The Ovations

00:00 - The Ovations

00:03 - 1 - Start:

Memphis was by no means overrun with R & B vocal groups during the 1960s.
Sensational single soul artists proliferated at Stax/Volt, Hi, and the city's other top labels, but a mere handful of groups were built to last. The Ovations headed that short but select list, requiring only three members to serve up a series of immaculate 45s for Goldwax Records. The Ovations were fronted by lilting tenor Louis Williams, whose uncanny vocal resemblance to the late Sam Cooke was no accident. "I loved Sam Cooke so. I just idolized him. So I just wanted to sing everything he put out," says Louis, bom February 24, 1941 in Memphis.
"I heard some Soul Stirrers things. Then when he put 'You Send Me' out, boy-mat flipped me!"

00:56 - 2 - First success:

Rounded out by Nathan "Pedro" Lewis and Elvin Lee Jones, the Ovations gave Goldwax its first national hit in the spring of 1965 with their breathtaking "It's Wonderful To Be hi Love." Louis had previously been with the Del-Rios, who made a fine 1962 Stax single, "There's A Love" b/w "Just Across The Street." "I started in church, singing around the neighborhoods. I went to Booker T. Washington High School, sung with a group called the Montclairs," says Louis. "At that time, I was a background singer. I didn't want to chance no lead, because I loved backgrounds so much. I loved to sing in the background, and move with the steps. That's where I was 'til I got with a group called the Del-Rios." For a long time, future Stax star William Bell fronted the Del-Rios. "He had a record called 'You Don't Miss Your Water,'" says Williams. "It was a hit for him, so he left the group. That's when I got Nathan with me."
Bom July 30, 1943, Nathan was already experienced when he joined the Del Rios. "I was out in south Memphis with little old groups, doowoppin' up under the street post light," says the Memphis native, whose El Salvadors caught the ear of a local grocery store owner. "He said, 'You all got a song that you think you might want to record?' We said, 'Yeah, we've got two tunes we wrote.' He said, 'What's the name of 'em?' We said, '"Shimmy In The Daytime, Shimmy At Night." And we got another one, "Fall Is Here.'" He said, 'Okay, we'll try to work on cuttin' these two tunes.' Well, he changed our name from the El Salvadors to Bamey & the Googles! We didn't like it. We went, 'Bamey & the Googles-where'd you get that?' His name was Bamey, Bamey Shillingstein. So he felt comfortable with Bamey. But what about the Googles? Where did that come in? We just didn't want anybody calling us the Googles! "Bamey took us to a guy that had a jewelry store here in Memphis, Shimmy Alabaster," he says. "Shillingstein knew Alabaster, and they got together and did this little project." "Fall Is Here" b/w "Doin' The Shimmy" emerged in 1960 on Shimmy Records by Bamey & the Googles. "They recorded that one record. A big old fat, thick record. And we were all clustered around at the store, and had told the people in the neighborhood to listen. And I think Bamey got 'em to play it on the radio about one or two times. Oh, we thought we were really a real group then!"

03:38 - 3 - Big step:

Being a Del-Rio was a major step up from being a Google. "I met them when I was downtown at my aunt's beauty shop on Beale Street, on 4th and Beale," says Nathan. "Some of the members of the Del-Rios group, Louis Williams and Robert Huntley, would come by the beauty shop, Robert and Louis Liked the way L sounded when we would be back ia-the backroom- going over little tunes. So they suggested that they would tell Harry (Hamson Austin) about my tenor, and they would suggest putting me in the group. So they talked to Harry about it. Harry said, 'Tell him to come up to the Flamingo Room tomorrow.' I went up there, did the interview. "Harry was in the group then, Robert, Louis, and myself," says Nathan. "So we march in there as the Del-Rios. William Bell had just left the group. I wind up inheriting Bell's uniform. So we perform happily as the Del-Rios. Clifford Miller, the owner of the Flamingo Room, sponsored all the uniforms that we used. And we kept a packed house every night." The Del-Rios were soon strengthened by a new member they discovered in Monroe, La. "A paper boy used to come by when we'd be rehearsing at the little hotel we were staying at," says Nathan. "He told us his name was Norman West. He heard us in there rehearsing, so he told us that he played organ, had been to college-had one year ofcollege-and he was interested in music. But he never had a chance to show it. So he noticed that we would go up to Ivory Joe Hunter's house every day. "Norman said, 'Do you think you all could get him to let me come in and sit around with you guys?' I said, 'I'm sure we can!' And Norman did a couple of songs with us, and it worked out well. The guy could walk on his hands, he was acrobatic. Louis was doing splits. So everybody had something to add to the group. Plus Norman played the organ. That was the fast member in the group that really had knowledge of the music. And he could sing real well," says Nathan. "He got on the organ, and the group was tight and right. Well, that went on for about a year or so. Then Norman was drafted into the Army, and Harry Austin, who was the business manager and had been with the group a long time, something made him think it was a good idea to go to Detroit. So the group started dwindling down.
Robert Huntley left the group and went over and started doing things at Stax. So that left Louis and myself. "Willie Mitchell contacted me and Louis. Said, 'Look, I've got some dates. Would you guys be interested in backgrounding Don Bryant on these dates that I've got? You all will be the Four Canes.' So he got one member out of the Canes group. 'So it'll be you, Louis, and Elvin Lee Jones,'" recalls Nathan. "We noticed from that experience on that outing that we had a solid background behind Don. And we knew Louis' potential as a lead singer. So we functioned as the Four Canes to do those dates, and something came to us, said, 'Well, let's work on something original with the harmony sound that we've got, and see what we can come up with.'" With Louis as lead and Nathan and Lee providing scintillating harmonies, three voices were enough. "We had this guy down the street that was working at the blood bank, Roosevelt Jamison.
He was interested in the music. He had been sort of a kin to gospel singers like O.V. Wright, James Carr," says Nathan. "Roosevelt used to listen to us sing. He said, 'Look, man, I know some guys that's interested in cutting some people. Would you guys be interested in coming down to the blood bank this evening after it closes? I'm going to have them down there, and you all show 'em what you got.' "We met the people down at the blood bank, two white gentlemen-Rudolph Russell and Quinton Claunch." The pair owned Goldwax. "We presented our tunes. They said, 'Do you all know a band that can play those tunes?' We said, 'Yeah!' They said, 'Who?' We said, 'Bowlegs Miller.' They said, 'Well, get in touch with Bowlegs and work the stuff up, and we want to cut it.' So they got in touch with Chips Moman over at American Studio. Bowlegs came over, I think we did two tunes. Then we had to come up with a name. So we came up with the Ovations. So Louis, Lee and myself started off with the group and the name Ovations."

08:12 - 4 - The newly created:

The newly minted Ovations' Goldwax debut coupled two fine group-penned originals, "Pretty Little Angel" and "Won't You Call." But it was their self-generated encore that propelled the Ovations onto the national touring circuit. "Sam Cooke had a tune called 'Wonderful,' a spiritual. I started writing a couple of lines, some lines on 'It's Wonderful To Be In Love,'" says Louis. "Me and Nathan and Lee just finished it up." Cut at Moman's fledgling facility, the song felt like a smash from the outset. "We went in the studio at six o'clock that evening, and come out six o'clock that morning. And everybody was rejoicing. I come up and told my mama, 'I know we got a hit! I know it, Mama!'" says Louis. "And boy, when that thing came out, it shook Memphis!" "It's Wonderful To Be In Love" climbed to # 22 R & B and # 61 pop on Billboard's national charts during the spring of '65. Jamison supplied the up-tempo flip, "Dance Party." By late June, the trio was touring nationally.

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Music credit: Take it from someone who knows
Performed: The Ovations
Source:Simply Grand Music, Inc.

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,#Memphis ,# Vocal groups,#Sensational artists,#Record labels,#Three members,#Completed,#First hit,#Started in church,#Background singer,#South Memphis,#Vitorleonardi,