December 10, 1967: Music star dies in Wisconsin plane crash
41 years ago today, a plane crash in Madison, Wisconsin, kills soul singer Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays band on this day in 1967. The plane crashed into Lake Monona, several miles from the Madison airport.
The plane being lifted from Lake Monona on Dec. 10, 1967.
In addition to his singing, Redding was an accomplished songwriter. Redding wrote the hits "Satisfaction," recorded by the Rolling Stones and "Respect," recorded by Aretha Franklin.
One survivor, Ben Cauley of the Bar-Kays (trumpet player on the Bar-Kay's hit "Soul Finger"), later reported that he had been asleep until just before the crash. He saw his friend in the band, Phalon Jones, look out the window of the small plane and exclaim "Oh no!" and, before he knew it, he was in a frigid lake holding onto a seat cushion. The following day, the lake was dragged and the bodies of the victims were recovered. A storm in Madison that day was a factor in the crash but the exact cause was never determined.
Ben Cauley (back, left) and the Bar-Kays, with Otis Redding (front, right).
Redding was not the only well-known singer to die in a plane crash. In 1959, Buddy Holly, along with the lesser known J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson("Chantilly Lace") and Ritchie Valens ("La Bamba") , were killed in a crash that is thought by some to have inspired Don McLean’s well-known song "American Pie."
Country superstar Patsy Cline died in a 1963 crash in west Tennessee. Ten years later, Jim Croce perished in one in Louisiana. Key members of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash accident 1977. Singer John Denver was killed piloting his own plane in 1997.
Four months after his death at the age of 26, Otis Redding’s "(Sittin’ on the) Dock of the Bay," the last song he ever recorded, reached the top spot on the pop music charts. It was his first No. 1 hit.
Otis Redding grew up in Macon, Georgia so they erected a bronze statue of him there by the river.
