John Ellison (born 11 August 1941) is an American/Canadian musician, best known for writing the song " Some Kind of Wonderful." He was born in Montgomery, West Virginia, and was raised in

Landgraff, West Virginia Landgraff (sometimes Landgraaf) is an unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 52 and Elkhorn Creek, approximately east of the county seat of Welch. History Landgraff is one of ...

, a small, poverty-stricken coal mining village near Welch, West Virginia, and is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, receiving his Canadian citizenship in 2006.

Biography

In the mid-1960s, Ellison traveled to

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

, where he met the original members of the Soul Brothers Five, becoming the sixth member and prompting the band to change its name to the

Soul Brothers Six The Soul Brothers Six were an American rhythm and blues band formed in Rochester, New York, during the mid-1960s. They are best remembered for their songs " Some Kind of Wonderful", which was later a hit for Grand Funk Railroad and "I'll Be Lovi ...

. The other members of the group included Charles Armstrong, Harry Armstrong, Vonnell Benjamin, Lester Pelemon, and Joe Johnson. The group signed a recording contract with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. Ellison was the lead guitarist, singer, and songwriter for the group; and while traveling to a recording session in Philadelphia in 1967, Ellison wrote "She's Some Kind of Wonderful." This original version reached number 91 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. In 1987, the book ''Sweet Soul Music'' named the Soul Brothers Six as a major influence on the sound of modern music. Not only has the trademark bass line in "She's Some Kind of Wonderful" been utilized by countless other artists for a variety of different songs, but the song has also earned the Soul Brothers Six a spot in music history. More than 50 different artists have recorded "She's Some Kind of Wonderful," making it one of the most recorded songs in the history of music. In 1995, Ellison received a citation of achievement from Broadcast Music for writing the third-most played song in the world. After the Soul Brothers Six broke up in the 1970s, Ellison continued to record and perform. In 1993 he released his first solo album, ''Welcome Back'', followed by ''Missing You'' in 2000. In 2007, he released his third solo album, ''Back''. He is a regular performer at the

Nice Jazz Festival The Nice Jazz Festival (, ), held annually since 1948 in Nice, on the French Riviera, is "the first jazz festival of international significance." At the inaugural festival, Louis Armstrong and his All Stars were the headliners. Frommer's calls it ...

in France, and also performs regularly throughout Europe, Asia and North America. In November 2008, Ellison was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year,
and for R&B/Soul Recording of the Year, for ''Back'' at the Hamilton Music Awards in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

. He also performed at the awards ceremony. On 6 December 2009, he was honored with the Arcelor Mittal Dofasco Lifetime Achievement Award and performed at the Hamilton Music Awards. Ellison released his autobiography, ''Some Kind of Wonderful: The John Ellison Story'', in July 2012. This work explores the racism and violence Ellison encountered and examines the relationship between these experiences and his songwriting. In July 2013, a site near his childhood home in Landgraff, West Virginia, was cleared by Boy Scouts and other volunteers, as part of a service project connected to the 2013

National Boy Scout Jamboree In Scouting, a jamboree is a large gathering of Scouts who rally at a national or international level. History The 1st World Scout Jamboree was held in 1920, and was hosted by the United Kingdom. Since then, there have been twenty-three other W ...

. Plans are pending to build a replica of his boyhood home to house a museum dedicated to Ellison's music and his early life in the local mine camp community of Landgraff. In October 2015, John was formally inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellison, John People from McDowell County, West Virginia 1941 births Living people American rhythm and blues singers Canadian rhythm and blues singers African-American songwriters Songwriters from West Virginia Singers from West Virginia Canadian soul singers People from Montgomery, West Virginia 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people