BBC - Soul Deep The Story of Black Popular Music (2005) Part 4 Southern Soul Otis Redding

This foot-stomping six-part series - made by the BBC team who produced the critically-acclaimed “Lost Highway”, “Walk on By” and “Dancing in the Streets” series - charts the evolution of soul music, with a fascinating combination of rare archive footage and over 100 contemporary interviews. In the words of its greatest performers, producers and songwriters, “Soul Deep The Story of Black Popular Music” is a search through time and place for the roots of black music, the genetic blueprint for nearly all other forms of modern popular music. From rhythm & blues, soul, Motown, funk and hip hop, we learn the story of the rise…and further rise of black music—the biggest single influence on global popular culture today. “Soul Deep” is the story of the beat that made the dance floor jump, the sax that made ears ring and the songs that made us laugh and cry. It's the story of legends like James Brown, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, and of the music that changed the world. Central to the rise of soul music as a global phenomenon was the independent record labels, from Stax Records in Detroit to Atlantic Records in New York. The importance of the producer in record making is exemplified by Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, who single-handedly managed to create the most prolific 'music-making factory' the world has ever seen, producing artists such as The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and The Jackson 5. Now, after years of struggle for mainstream acceptance, soul music is one of the biggest musical genres in the world and a billion-dollar industry. This landmark documentary reveals how black music has achieved the enviable position of not having to compromise on its 'blackness' or its attitude.

Part 4 Southern Soul Otis Redding

In the summer of 1967, Otis Redding performed in front of a 200,000 capacity crowd at the Monterey Pop Festival, the biggest audience of his career. Backed by the Stax Records house band, Booker T & The MGs, Otis gave the crowd a night of unadulterated down home Southern Soul. It blew the psychedelic cobwebs out of the hippies' minds. And they loved it. It was Otis's finest hour. Five years after walking into Stax Records studio in Memphis as an unknown singer, he was now breaking into the mass white market and seducing its counter-culture, without diluting his music one drop. Tragically, Otis didn't live out the year. But for a brief, brilliant time, he emerged as the very embodiment of the 60s soul music. With his music, Otis helped bring black and white together in the mid 1960s before the more racially divisive Black Power era arrived. This episode tells the story of Otis, Southern Soul and how it evoked the sweet dream of freedom. Interviewees include Steve Cropper (the MGs), Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, Jerry Wexler, David Porter, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.

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