Otis Clay, one of America’s premier singers of soul and gospel music, was born in Waxhaw on February 11, 1942. His journey to international renown began at age four at the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church, where he attended school and sang with a family gospel group. In 1946 he began singing bass in the Christian Travelers with a brother, cousin, and two nephews in Waxhaw, while the Clay children worked the family farm and went to school at the church near their home. The family moved back and forth from Waxhaw over the years, also living in Clarksdale and later in Muncie, Indiana, where he sang with the Morning Glories and the Voices of Hope. By 1956 he was singing with the D. Z. Jackson Chorus at his grandfather’s church in Chicago, and after one more trip back to Waxhaw, he returned to Chicago to stay in 1957. As his reputation grew, he sang with gospel quartets including the Golden Jubilaires, the Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, the Pilgrim Harmonizers, the Gospel Songbirds, and the Sensational Nightingales. With the Blue Jays in 1960 he gained his first professional touring experience and broadened his repertoire beyond religious songs. He recorded as lead vocalist for the Gospel Songbirds in 1964, but had already secretly tried rhythm and blues in an unissued Columbia session. His public move into soul music came in 1965 at Chicago’s One-derful! Records, owned by George Leaner. With hits on One-derful!, Cotillion, Hi, and Kayvette Records, especially the 1972 Hi single “Trying to Live My Life Without You,” he became a quintessential performer of what came to be known as deep soul. Rooted in gospel and marked by his warm, uplifting style, his secular music remained close to the religious songs he continued to sing in churches and gospel concerts. His live performances won audiences at blues clubs, festivals, soul music gatherings in Japan and Europe, and in 2010, China. He also gained acclaim as a guest singer on albums with blues, soul, rock, and gospel performers including Roy Buchanan, Magic Slim, Eddy Clearwater, Don Covay, Tyrone Davis, Johnny Rawls, and Clarence Fountain, and on CD tributes to artists ranging from Led Zeppelin and Duke Ellington to Robert Johnson, Janis Joplin, Aerosmith, and Van Morrison. Clay also sang at funeral services for Albert King, Tyrone Davis, Junior Parker, Magic Sam, Sunnyland Slim, and other blues and soul singers. In October 2010 he celebrated his fiftieth anniversary in show business.