The Dixie Nightingales, an African-American male vocal group from Memphis, Tennessee, was founded in 1958. The founding members included Ollie Hoskins, Willie Neal, Nelson Lesure, Bill Davis, and Rochester Neal. With Hoskins as lead singer, the group made their first records for Pepper Records. In 1962, they moved to Nashboro Records and later signed with Stax Records' gospel subsidiary, Chalice. The Dixie Nightingales recorded three singles for Chalice, including "The Assassination" about the murder of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. In 1968, after changing their name to Ollie & the Nightingales and moving to the main Stax label, they released several singles, with "I Know I've Got a Sure Thing" peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Black Singles chart. The group disbanded in the early 1970s after recording three singles for Stax with Tommy Tate as lead singer.
