The Riverview Spiritual Singers are a long-running group that originated in Riverview Baptist Church. Jimmy Ellis, the son of Riverview’s pastor Rev. Walter Ellis, was a longtime member of the group along with his wife, Mary Ellis, her brother Grover Williams on guitar, Eddie "Duke" Jones on lead vocals, Robert Gill on bass, Sonny Long on drums and Evelyn Ellis Jones, Barbara Jean Bass, Lawrence Courtney, and Houston Gill on vocals. Jimmy Ellis was an accomplished boxer and frequent sparring partner of his friend and fellow Louisville native Muhammad Ali. After Ali was stripped of his title for refusing the draft as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, the World Boxing Association staged an eight-man tournament to determine a new champion. Jimmy Ellis won the title in April 1968 and held it until February 1970. As Ellis gained fame, the Riverview Spiritual Singers came to be known as Jimmy Ellis and The Riverview Spiritual Singers. In 1969, while Ellis was the active WBA champion, the group released a self-titled LP on Atlantic Records.
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