VIBE Lineage is an interview series with the heirs of Black excellence. Now that their legendary predecessors have gained high regards in their own right, these younger kin are blazing their own trails.
Otis Redding is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential R&B singers to ever exist. Known as the “King Of Soul” for timeless hits including “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay,” “Stand By Me,” and “Try A Little Tenderness” —which was famously covered by Chris Brown in the 2007 classic, This Christmas— Redding made a powerful, indelible, global impact during his 26 years on Earth.
Not only does his legacy live on through his discography, it’s tangibly felt because of his widow, Zelma and their children: Dexter, Karla, and Otis III. Ask Karla and she’ll joke that her brothers got their father’s musical talents, but she didn’t. Instead, she’s using her talents to help run the Otis Redding Foundation along with the Center For The Arts and King of Soul Music Festival.
Formally launched in 2007— 40 years after Redding’s tragic death— the foundation serves as the umbrella to mentor the next generation of musicians as well as celebrate those who align with Redding’s commitment to education, philanthropy, and the community.
VIBE spoke with Karla Redding-Andrews (Vice President/Executive Director of the Foundation), and her son, Justin Andrews (Director of Special Projects and Outreach), to discuss why their favorite songs of his are deep cuts, how being part of the foundation helped them become the singer’s biggest fans, and how the three aforementioned entities intertwine and play a part in keeping the legacy of Otis Redding alive.
Otis Redding honored with a posthumous star on Hollywood Walk Of Fame in October 2024
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
“The Otis Redding Foundation was the first of the dream that my mom and dad shared, even before his untimely passing in December of 1967,” Karla reflected over Zoom. “They were already being very philanthropic and [promoting] the importance of staying in school paired with an education with music in the arts […] In 2007, we officially formed in a public capacity the Otis Redding Foundation, because Mom, even after Dad died, continued to provide scholarships and continuing education opportunities for young people to make sure that they got their best foot forward to do what they wanted to do in life.”
Karla confessed that the crooner “always knew” what he wanted his legacy to be and so did Zelma. “Mom would say Dad would always say he’s not the best entertainer or the best singer, but what he can do is inspire people to be their best authentic selves. They remained just really positive people all the time— never arrogant, always humble. I think that is what the legacy of Zelma and Otis Redding is all about,” she expressed.
Ironically, she and her siblings admittedly didn’t fully grasp what it meant to be their legacy while growing up. “Learning dad’s catalog, and even growing up, my brothers and I didn’t quite understand the magnitude of the Otis Redding. He was just dad to us,” Karla explained.
It didn’t click until after she graduated college and really had to “learn his legacy” and it was then that she accepted this innate pursuit.
“Once I really accepted the fact that my dad was a big deal, I was in college. I think with any celebrity kid, you don’t want to be known as ‘Otis Redding’s daughter,’ so you got to go out and try to prove to yourself that you can make it in a world outside of having this great legacy to live under,” she confessed. Now, being Redding’s daughter is worn like a badge of honor.
Karla explained, “I said, ‘Listen, that’s who you are, and you should be so proud. There can only be one Otis Redding’s daughter, and that’s you, and you better get your behind in gear and accept it, and do it.’ I was like it would be crazy for you to allow someone else to pick up the legacy like this and promote it, other than family, and what your mom has been working all of her life to uphold and to make right. I found my place, and I think I’m the best at promoting all things Otis Redding and the Otis Redding Foundation. I am fortunate to be able to do this.”
In doing so, Karla quipped that “it’s almost like being Otis Redding’s biggest fan all over again,” as she found herself “learning the music, the clothes he wore, what he loved to eat, how was he with the other musicians, and listening to the stories that people tell about what a great human he was.”
Upon acquiring such knowledge, she instilled it all in her own children. For Justin, he noted, “I always preface this by saying this is someone that I never had the opportunity to meet [but I love] putting the pieces together of actually who my granddaddy is as a person.”
Whether it’s him listening to how other artists talk about Redding’s impact or hearing it from his fans, Justin loves that Redding is “still a pillar in the music industry” especially in areas like Nashville where R&B isn’t the dominant genre, and noted, “Otis Redding still has that impact on every single genre in the music industry.”
For them, they prefer Redding’s deep cuts. Justin often rotates between “Ole Man Trouble” and “Cigarettes and Coffee” whereas Karla’s pressing play on “Love Man” and “I’ve Got Dreams To Remember”— with the latter being a poem Zelma wrote for Redding that he turned into a surprise song.
She praised her father for “always [being] totally authentic to himself.”
Explaining, “He never wanted to change who he was, or how he sang, or what he looked like for anyone. He was true to himself, and I think to be an artist and to stay in that moment like that and not say, ‘I’ve got to be like the Motown [standard].’ He was like, ‘No, this is who I am and this is who I’m authentically always going to be, whether it’s accepted or not.’ Dad started exactly as he finished. He never faltered.”
Karla feels if Redding were here today, he’d be very hands-on when it comes to the foundation, Center For The Arts, and music festival. “He’d be right here in this place every moment of the day, any time we needed him to engage and be involved with these kids […] He would just be so humble and so proud,” she shared.
With both her and Justin handling the foundation and its subsidiaries, Karla said, “The world is ours right now. This was a dream of his, and here we are now still living in that moment. As long as we continue to get kids in here, if we get the next Otis Redding, so be it. But if we don’t, we’re still going to make sure that we are providing confidence, and self empowerment, and creativity in this space.”
Justin added, “We can do whatever we want to. If all else besides the music, the instruments, and everything we do here, we are instilling confidence in kids. Watching those kids come in from day one and be kind of shy, and be on the outskirts, to literally walking on stage with 3,500 people on a sold-out crowd on one of the most historic stages in the world— that to me is why we do it. Just keep pushing that envelope of Otis Redding.”
