King & Queen (50th Anniversary Edition) LP

Album Details

50 years ago, two legends of R&B released one of the greatest duets albums of the 1960s, but for all its acclaim, it would prove to be the only album they ever did together. The idea for Otis Redding and Carla Thomas to team up for King & Queen came from the mind of producer Jim Stewart, who could only see it as a positive move for both artists' careers and sensed that the blend of "rawness and sophistication" respectively possessed by the voices of Redding and Thomas would be a beautiful thing. (That Marvin Gaye had found success along the same line with Tammi Terrell probably entered into it a bit, too.)

Depending on who you believe, King & Queen either took three days or six days to record, but however long the sessions required, the resulting album featured ten covers and a new number entitled "Ooh Carla, Ooh Otis," which – believe it or not – was written specifically for the album by Redding and Al Bell. The first single, "Tramp," was a top-40 pop hit (No. 26) and a top-10 R&B single (No. 2), and the second single, "Knock on Wood," achieved the same, hitting No. 30 and No. 8, respectively.