Redding was born in Dawson, Georgia, and relocated to Macon when he was two years old. Redding dropped out of school at the age of 15 in order to support his family by playing in talent showcases at the venerable Douglass Theatre in Macon and working with Little Richard’s backing band, the Upsetters.
He became a member of Johnny Jenkins’ band, the Pinetoppers, in 1958, and travelled the Southern states as both a vocalist and a driver with them. A contract and his first hit song, “These Arms of Mine,” were the results of an unannounced entrance during a Stax recording session in 1962.
Who is Otis Redding wife Zelma Atwood?
At “The Teenage Party,” Redding, then 18 years old, first encountered Zelma Atwood, then 17. She gave birth to their son Dexter in the summer of 1960, then wed Redding in August of the following year. Otis and his sister Deborah relocated to Los Angeles in the middle of 1960, leaving Zelma and the kids behind in Macon, Georgia.
Dexter, Demetria, Karla, and Otis III were the four children that Redding and his wife had. Later, the Reddings, a band under Zelma’s management, was formed by Otis, Dexter, and their cousin Mark Lockett. She also managed or labored at a number of nightclubs, booking agencies, and the housekeeping firm Maids Over Macon.
