Otis Lee Clay was born in Waxhaw, Mississippi, in 1942. He grew up in a musical family and, like so many of his generation, he joined a series of Gospel groups, first in Indiana and then Chicago. At the age of twenty, he made some recordings of some secular songs, but these were never released.
Three years later, when he was signed by One-derful! Records in Chicago, he finally had the opportunity to make some Soul recordings, with a strong Gospel flavour. In 1967, one of his songs made it into the charts.
“That’s How It Is (When You’re In Love)” reached number thirty-four on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The follow-up “A Lasting Love” also charted, at number forty-eight on the same chart.
Unfortunately, One-derful! then closed and he moved to Atlantic records. Clay’s single “She’s About A Mover” was the first release on Atlantic’s subsidiary label Cotillion.
The song was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals and reached number ninety-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. The B-side is another excellent Soul ballad from the pen of William Bell entitled “You Don’t Miss Your Water”. Follow-up singles were released by Cotillion, produced by Syl Johnson and then Willie Mitchell, but they made little impression.
Otis Clay 1997
Photo: Masahiro Sumori (Wikimedia Commons)
In 1971 Clay moved to Hi Records in Memphis, where he made two albums and eight singles. The best-known of the songs is “Trying To Live My Life Without You”, which was covered by Bob Seger in 1981. Clay took his version into the charts, reaching number twenty-four on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, number seventy on the Cash Box R&B Singles Chart and number one hundred and two on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
He moved on from Hi Records in 1974, but continued to perform live around the USA, Europe and Japan, working for several record labels, covering Soul, Blues and Gospel.
In 2007 he earned a Grammy nomination for his Gospel album “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” on Echo Records, with guest vocal slots from Carla Thomas and the Soul Stirrers.
Then in 2015, with Johnny Rawls, he won the Blues Blast Award for Soul Album of the Year for the album “Soul Brothers”, on Catfood Records. He died in Chicago in 2016.
He may have moved around, but he never made a bad record.
