The soul singer who recorded the posthumous 1968 number-one hit “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” was Otis Redding.
Redding co-wrote the song with guitarist and producer Steve Cropper and recorded it at Stax Studios in Memphis during late 1967. He died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967, only days after completing the recording, so the single was released after his death in January 1968.
The song became Redding’s only number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first posthumous number-one single in U.S. chart history. Its relaxed acoustic guitar, unusual folk influence, and famous whistled ending differed from the harder-driving soul style associated with many of his earlier recordings.
The song is sometimes linked incorrectly to San Francisco because of its reference to “the Frisco Bay.” Redding and Cropper actually developed it in Sausalito, California, while Redding was recovering from surgery. The song later sold millions of copies worldwide.