Ronald Louis Caldwell (December 27, 1948 – December 10, 1967) was an American

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and R&B musician. A keyboard player, Caldwell was the only white member of the

Bar-Kays The Bar-Kays is an American funk band formed in 1964. The band had dozens of charting singles from the 1960s to the 1980s, including " Soul Finger" (US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number 17, R&B number 3) in 1967, "Son of Shaft" (R&B number 10) in ...

musical group based in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. The group recorded with and also accompanied singer

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

. According to James Alexander, Caldwell was fully accepted within Memphis' black community, to the point that Caldwell felt free to go about in public with his black girlfriend, despite the attitude of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

prevalent at that time. Caldwell died on December 10, 1967, aged 18, of a plane crash in

Lake Monona Lake Monona ( ) is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin, surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin, and on the south east side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes ...

with Redding and three other band members ( Phalon Jones, Carl Cunningham and Jimmie King), their

valet A valet or varlet is a male servant who serves as personal attendant to his employer. In the Middle Ages and Ancien Régime, ''valet de chambre'' was a role for junior courtiers and specialists such as artists in a royal court, but the term "va ...

Matthew Kelly and the pilot Richard Fraser while on their way to a performance in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. Caldwell is interred in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.

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* * 1948 births 1967 deaths Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States American funk keyboardists Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee The Bar-Kays members 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American keyboardists Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee) Musicians killed in aviation accidents or incidents Accidental deaths in Wisconsin Accidents and incidents involving the Beechcraft Model 18 Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1967 {{US-keyboardist-stub