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Otis Clay is known as one of the best representatives of the deep soul tradition that began in the early 60's with such greats as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. Growing up in rural Mississippi, Clay began singing in church at age four and remembers the cotton fields and hard work but most of all he remembers the singing. "We sang in the fields, we sang at home, and we sang a whole lot at church." Singing came easy for the young Clay and for the next dozen years, he sang in numerous gospel groups before settling in Chicago in 1957. The teenager found himself exposed to a rich new variety of music and in 1959 he joined the Blue Jay Quartet, a harmony group that performed both gospel and popular music, a combination that would stay with Clay over the next 4 decades. At the age of 22 Clay made the switch to the secular field, signing with the R&B label One-der-ful. Clay recorded a number of singles that fused his gospel feel with his emerging smooth soul sound, including his initial nationwide hit, "That's How It Is." Clay later moved to Memphis where he came to the attention of an up-and-coming Willie Mitchell, producer of the many Al Green hits of the early 70's. Mitchell was so impressed with Clay's big, gritty voice that he signed him to Hi Records. Alternating between gospel and R&B, Clay had a series of hits throughout the 70's and early 80's and finally signed with the Rounder/Bullseye group in the 1990's releasing his most recent record, "This Time Around" in 1998. Otis Clay has a soulful voice that combines the shouting gospel sensibilities of his church singing with the smoother stylings of Memphis soul and remains a standard bearer of the raw, emotion-packed ideals of deep Southern soul.
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