Otis Clay, who has carried the banner of deep soul music in Chicago since the 1960s, has never been a blues singer in the traditional sense, but he became a favorite on the blues circuit nonetheless, successfully crossing over into territory rarely reached by his soul-singing contemporaries. Clay’s stirring, straight-from-the-heart vocals came directly from gospel music, and in fact he has been able to maintain a career singing both secular and sacred music, drawing crowds at blues festivals, soul shows and gospel concerts. Clay was born in the Mississippi Delta hamlet of Waxhaw on February 11, 1942, and sang in church there and later in Muncie, Indiana, and Chicago, in addition to touring the country with a latter-day version of the Blue Jay Singers.
A string of soul 45s recorded in Chicago for the One-derful label in the 1960s led to more fine recordings for Cotillion, cut in Muscle Shoals, Hi Records in Memphis, and various Chicago labels, including his own imprints. Of his six singles that charted in Billboard magazine between 1967 and 1977, the best known is the Hi 45 ‘Trying to Live My Life Without You,’ later covered by Bob Seger. For most of his life in gospel and soul, the blues has not been far away, though: as a youngster, he heard plantation singers in Mississippi and caught a show at the Roxy Theater in Clarksdale when Muddy Waters was back home on a tour, and in the Chicago clubs he worked alongside many blues acts and for several years was paired with blues-singing comedian Tommy Brown on shows. He has done guest vocal spots on albums by Roy Buchanan, Eddy Clearwater, Magic Slim and others.
Otis Clay passed away in January 2016.