Otis Redding III, the namesake and youngest child of soul legend Otis Redding died of cancer on Tuesday in Macon, Georgia. He was 59.
The yonger Redding’s death was announced by his sister, Karla Redding-Andrews, in a statement posted on the Facebook page of the Otis Redding Foundation, the family’s charity in Macon which read:
Redding was just 3 years old when his father, Otis Redding, died in a plane crash at age 26 on Dec. 10, 1967 along with several band members.
After over 10 years after the demise of Otis Redding, Otis Redding III and his brother, Dexter, along with a cousin, Mark Lockett, went on to form the funk band the Reddings, which recorded six albums in the 1980s.
Though The Reddings released their final album in 1988, Redding continued to play music, and appeared onstage at Carnegie Hall for a 2018 tribute concert in honor of his father.
Redding III also worked with The Otis Redding Foundation, founded by his mother, to organize summer camps that teach children to play music, and was board president for the local chapter of Meals on Wheels.