Otis Clay

Otis Clay (b. Waxhaw, Mississippi, February 11, 1942 - d. Chicago, January 8, 2016) – Singer and songwriter. Soul and R & B singer Otis Clay was born in Mississippi and moved to Muncie, Indiana, in 1953 (about age 11). As a teenager (or possibly even a pre-teenager) in Muncie, he sang in the local Gospel group called the Voices of Hope. Following a period of time in Mississippi with the Christian Travelers, he sang with a succession of groups in Chicago starting in 1957, among them the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, the Pilgrim Harmonizers, the Gospel Songbirds, and the Sensational Nightingales. After dabbling on the side with singing secular songs as a soloist (including making four unreleased recordings with Columbia in 1962), Clay had his first R & B hit in 1967 with “That’s how it is (When you’re in Love).” It peaked at #34 on the R& B charts and its follow-up, “A Lasting Love,” went to #48. After Atlantic Records recruited him and placed him with the subsidiary Cotillion label, he released “She’s about a Mover,” recorded and produced at the FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It proved to be a minor R & B hit (#47) and a minor pop hit (#97). He charted two more singles in the 1970s, the most successful being “If I could Reach Out” (#34 on the R & B charts). In addition, Bob Seger took his “Trying to Live my Life Without You” to #5 on the pop charts in 1981. Although he didn't record a charted song after the 1970s, Clay remained a popular performer in the United States and Japan for many years. Some of his later material has been described as soul and soul/blues. A resident of West Chicago, Clay returned to his roots in 2007 with the release of the solo Gospel album entitled Walk a Mile in My Shoes, whose title track won him a nomination for a Grammy in the category of Best Traditional R & B Performance. In 2016, he was posthumously named the "Soul Blues Male Artist of the year" by the Blues Foundation (formerly the W.C. Handy awards).