ATLANTA — Grammy-winning singer Estelle remembered when she used to strut in the living room when she was younger, singing many of soul legend Otis Redding’s classic songs like “Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay.”

On Thursday night, she had a bigger audience as she and others paid homage to the soul singer in a two-hour performance at the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta.

“I’m just trying to do his song justice,” said Estelle, who sang “Satisfaction,” the Rolling Stones song that Redding covered. “I hope I come close to making the song sound great just like him.”

Estelle was joined in honoring Redding by Anthony Hamilton, married couple Kenny Lattimore and Chante Moore, and Redding’s sons Dexter and Otis III.

“Singing the same songs he used to sing makes me realize how much of an impact he had in music,” said Anthony Hamilton, who performed “Try a Little Tenderness” with Dexter and Otis III.

Redding established himself in the early 1960s as a first-rate songwriter, penning and recording “Respect,” which Aretha Franklin made a No. 1 hit. His biggest hit, “Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay,” was released after his death in a plane crash in December 1967.

“Tonight, his name lives on,” said Redding’s wife, Zelma. She established the Big “O” Youth Educational Dream Foundation, which also honored NASCAR’s Kyle Petty, rapper Ludacris and talent developer Devyne Stephens for their foundation’s outreach programs.

“Otis would be so proud of what so many of these people have done in the community,” Zelma Redding said.

Rapper Ludacris said he was humbled after meeting and sitting next to Redding’s wife, sons and daughter.

“I’m just a fan of Otis Redding,” the rapper said. “His legacy will live forever and he has been one of the major influences in who I am. It’s as simple as that.”

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Back when I still had my looks and used to hit the downtown Manhattan club scene with a book in my back pocket, there was a song that, whenever played, would get the biggest reaction from the ladies in the house. It was bonus cut on Dr. Dre’s Chronic CD; a song known quite unprintably as “_______ Ain’t ____.”

Imagine my amazement! I would have thought that women would hate this song. But they’d go running out there on the dance floor, dancing with each other and singing all the lyrics! To my thinking at the time, this would have been akin to me starting to pop and lock to a song called “Hang Me a Darkie”.

Of course, this song had one of the best beats on the entire Chronic CD and when I finally did get around to asking one of the young lovelies how she could ignore the obvious insults that the lyrics flung at her gender she replied simply, “The song’s not talkin’ about me!”

“Oh,” I said, starting to dance myself. “You sure?”

Now, if we were face to face and you asked me right now what my favorite radio song was I’d lie and say it was John Legend moaning like Jeffrey Osborne after a bad car accident and then, thankfully, letting Estelle get busy on “No Other Love.”

Of course, the truth is, it’s not that song. It’s actually Lil Wayne and Birdman with “Always Strapped”. I know, I know, I know…

In this song, you have all the worst: crass materialism, forced lesbian acts, drug abuse, violence involving “soda” and a coerced Young and the Restless lifestyle. Yet despite the dreadful subject matter, the lyrics are actually a perfect study in minimalism, with Weezy proving that the wordier is not always the better by delivering a 16 as good as I’ve heard all season.

That was a tough confession for me to make. Somebody please admit to liking “Birthday Sex“ or something worse so I can feel a little bit better about myself.