Their biggest hit, a remake of Sam Cooke's "Having a Party", reached no.7 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1973.
The group was formed by Memphis, Tennessee, natives Louis Williams Jr. (24 February 1941 – 13 October 2002), Nathan "Pedro" Lewis (born 30 July 1943), and Elvin Lee Jones.
[2] The Ovations toured widely with James Brown, James Carr, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Percy Sledge and others, before releasing their follow-up single, "I'm Living Good," written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham and recorded in Muscle Shoals.
Several later records by the Ovations on Goldwax failed to chart, including "I Need A Lot Of Loving," also written by Penn and Oldham, and "I Believe I'll Go Back Home," co-written by George Jackson, before the group had their second hit with "Me And My Imagination," written by Claunch with Bill Cantrell, which reached no.40 on the R&B chart.
In 1971 Williams formed a new version of the group, with singers Rochester Neal, Bill Davis, and Quincy Billops Jr., formerly of The Nightingales.