MENDOTA- Carol L. Swope, 72, of Mendota passed away Aug. 27, 2017 in Alden Debes Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Rockford....
Two days before the crash that killed him at 26, Redding had recorded the vocals for aching ballad (Sittinâ On) The Dock of the Bay. Four miles outside Madison, Wisconsin, December 10, 1967, hampered by low cloud cover and cold weather, the eight-seater private plane carrying 26-year-old soul star Otis Redding hit trouble.
Franklin's cover is by far the best-known version, but this was an important song for Otis Redding. It was just his second Top 40 hit, following I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now), and it helped establish Redding on mainstream radio. Otis also performed the song at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967; this was a defining performance for the singer, who died in a plane crash six months later.