Shuggie Otis

He may never have been as obscure as Searching for Sugar Man's Rodriguez, but Shuggie Otis was denied the widespread acclaim that his music – in retrospect – so clearly deserved. The prodigious multi-instrumentalist who gave us psychedelic soul classic Inspiration Information (1974) returned to the live circuit late last year, but reviews indicate that he's been struggling to recapture the magic so far. Hopefully he and his band are a little better rehearsed when they hit the Billboard Live, a few weeks ahead of Sony's deluxe reissue of Inspiration Information – and with an album of new material in the works, Within the Rite.