The Bar-Kays began as a gritty instrumental soul band in the manner of their mentors, Booker T & the MGs. They were employed as Otis Redding's backing band on tour, until a tragic 1967 plane crash took the lives of Redding and four band members. With a revamped line-up, the group reinvented itself as a '70s disco-funk hit machine, continuing in various permutations until 1993.