Black Ivory was formed in 1969 by fellow members, Russell Patterson, and Stuart Bascombe. Later they asked their friend Leroy Burgess III to join and sing lead. They called themselves Mellow Souls. While shopping around for labels to get a deal, they met a songwriter / producer named Patrick Adams, who was in a group called " Sparks". Patrick of course was no stranger to the music industry, knew the tricks of the trade and took the group under his wing. He took the group to a newly formed label named " Today". The Today label was a subsidiary of the sister label, " Perception", which at time featured " The Fatback Band" and great poet " Wanda Robinson", who would record her first LP on the label, using Black Ivory's music as a background, during for her poetry reading. Patrick Adams didn't care for their name " Mellow Souls" and changed it to the name "Black Ivory".