Clay's other releases for Cotillion didn't do as well, and after cutting "Is It Over?" with producer Willie Mitchell, he struck a deal with Hi Records, where Mitchell was a house producer. Atlantic chose Clay to be the debut artist for their new subsidiary label, Cotillion Records, and his first single for the new imprint, a cover of the Sir Douglas Quintet's "She's About a Mover," rose to 47 on the R&B charts and nudged the lower reaches of the pop singles chart at 97. Clay's first single for One-Derful!, "Flame in Your Heart," fared well locally but went unnoticed on the national charts, and it wasn't until his fifth release for the label, 1967's "That's How It Is (When You're in Love)," that he finally scored a hit that landed on the Billboard R&B charts, peaking at number 34.Ĭlay's follow-up, "A Lasting Love," made it to number 48 R&B, but he soon received the surprising news that One-Derful! was going out of business and his contract had been sold to Atlantic Records, then America's biggest soul label. In 1965, Maurice Dollison, who had sung in a few gospel groups with Clay and recorded R&B material under the name Cash McCall, introduced him to George Leaner, head of the independent One-Derful! Records, and Leaner signed Clay to a record deal. Like many gospel singers, Clay was interested in performing secular music, where one could perform to bigger audiences for bigger paychecks, and in 1962 he cut several R&B sides for producer Carl Davis, who expected to land a deal with Columbia Records however, Columbia opted not to release the sessions. In 1957, Clay and his family relocated to Chicago, where he joined the Golden Jubilaires, the first of many gospel groups he would work with in the Windy City. In 1953, Clay's family moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he began performing with a local gospel group.
Clay was born on Februin Waxhaw, Mississippi, where the church was a vital part of his family's life. A Chicago-based vocalist whose music was steeped in Southern gospel and deep soul, Otis Clay never had a major pop hit, but he was a periodic visitor to the R&B charts and an enduring presence in the world of blues and vintage soul, while also enjoying a long career in spiritual music.
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