Otis Lee Clay[1] (February 11, 1942 – January 8, 2016) was an American R&B and soul singer, who started in gospel music.

There, he joined a series of gospel vocal groups including the Golden Jubilaires, the Famous Blue Jay Singers, the Holy Wonders, and the Pilgrim Harmonizers, before making his first solo secular recordings in 1962.

They were unissued, and Clay joined the Gospel Songbirds, who recorded in Nashville in 1964 and who also included Maurice Dollison who sang R&B under the name Cash McCall, and then the Sensational Nightingales.

[6] In 1968 the record company folded and his contract was bought by Atlantic Records, who launched their subsidiary Cotillion label with Clay's version of the Sir Douglas Quintet hit, "She's About A Mover", produced at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals.

"Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" was later covered by Bob Seger, whose version hit #5 on the pop chart in 1981.

In 2007, he released the gospel album Walk a Mile in My Shoes, which earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.

[5] On August 11, 2012, he was one of several acts that performed at Lincoln Center Out of Doors Summer Concerts in New York City.