Otis Redding

Otis Redding (1941–1967) was a defining voice of Southern soul who both wrote ‘Respect’ and recorded it first, in 1965 for Volt Records. His original was a plea from a tired working man for a little respect at home; it was a solid hit but not yet a landmark. He died in a plane crash in December 1967, months after Aretha Franklin’s cover had turned his song into something bigger than either of them — and he reportedly acknowledged that she had taken it from him.