Where I came from in the country, there was no place to hear pop music like Little Richard and people like that. Later, I heard James Brown, Otis Redding, The Drifters, The Four Aces, The Ink Spots.
My parents had a huge pile of records - vinyl! - that I loved, especially the Motown stuff, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding.
While growing up in Birmingham around a lot of West Indian people, reggae and calypso were big influences early on but Otis Redding was the one person who made me wanna sing myself.
Bob Dylan and John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, these are soul guys. Bruce Springsteen might not sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with white soul. He's singing and he's writing songs from the bottom of his gut.
I got the idea of what a band should be from listening to Booker T and Otis Redding.
People like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding - I do not put myself in that category.
I heard Otis Redding singing 'These Arms of Mine' and I knew that was the band I needed.
My dad loved jazz, so there was a little Miles Davis, Otis Redding, Donny Hathaway. My mum is French, so she'd listen to a lot of French music, but a lot of the music that actually formed my taste, I just found online.
Beyonce, Otis Redding, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, and Adele are a few of my favorites.
I want people to see an honesty within me. I'm not trying to be the next Sam Cooke or Otis Redding.
I love the pioneers like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, but when I write music, it comes out in my own way.
I started singing rhythmically, and now I'm learning from Otis Redding to push a song instead of just sliding over it
Elvis wore a halo. Otis Redding did, too. You knew you were playing with a star when you played with them.
The road has taken a lot of the great ones: Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Janis, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis.
I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band. Thats it.
I was just a music lover who wondered what it would sound like if Otis Redding strapped on a guitar and played in a punk band. That's it.