Otis Clay, RIP

photo: Otis Clay at the Bell House in 2009 (more by Jacob Blickenstaff)

Soul veteran Otis Clay, who performed in NYC as recently as February 2015, has passed away at age 73 after suffering a heart attack. Via Rolling Stone:

he Mississippi-born Clay ventured into the music world with gospel vocal groups before branching out to secular music in the mid-Sixties. After signing with Chicago label One-derful! Records, Clay nabbed R&B hits with 1967’s “That’s How It Is (When You’re In Love)” and “A Lasting Love.” Following a move to Atlantic Records’ Cauldron subsidiary, Clay recorded a version of the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “She’s About a Mover” at Muscle Shoals, Alabama’s FAME Studios.

Clay next teamed with Al Green producer Willie Mitchell at Memphis-based Hi Records in 1971, resulting in Clay’s biggest hit, “Trying to Live My Life Without You”; nearly a decade later, Bob Seger would climb the Hot 100 with his own version of the single. Similarly, Clay’s 1980 single “The Only Way Is Up” would be the inspiration for Yazz’s U.K. chart-topping cover in 1988.

Rest in peace, Otis. You’ll be missed.

Watch him play “Trying To Live My Life Without You” in 1972, below…

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