Welch to honor John Ellison with homecoming celebration Friday

Welch honored one of its own Friday, turning John Ellison Appreciation Day into a hometown welcome for the 84-year-old singer-songwriter behind “(She’s) Some Kind of Wonderful.” The celebration brought Ellison back to McDowell County, where organizers used his visit to highlight both a national hitmaker and the county’s own Black Appalachian history.

Ellison was born Aug. 11, 1941, near Montgomery in Fayette County and grew up in poverty before floodwaters destroyed the family home when he was a toddler, prompting a move to southern West Virginia. Known legally as Willy John Ellison, he later became a founding member of Soul Brothers Six, the group that first recorded “(She’s) Some Kind of Wonderful” in 1967. The song reached No. 91 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in its original version, then climbed to No. 3 in Grand Funk Railroad’s 1974 cover, giving Ellison a place in American pop history that outlasted the first recording.

The Welch tribute was tied to the LOST Stories project, a McDowell County effort run through Mennonite Central Committee that began in November 2022 and meets monthly in Kimball to highlight Black history in the county. A county event listing said Ellison returned to perform songs and share his story as part of that work, adding a civic purpose to the celebration beyond the music itself. In McDowell County, where public attention often falls on floods, water problems and economic decline, the day offered a different kind of headline, one built around heritage, memory and local accomplishment.

Ellison’s recognition in Welch also fit into a long line of honors. His official biography says he has received seven BMI lifetime achievement awards and was recognized by BMI in 2024 for more than 6,000,000 airplays. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Rochester Music Hall of Fame in 2024, and he released his autobiography, “Some Kind of Wonderful: The John Ellison Story,” in 2012. A 2025 induction at Pipestem Resort State Park, followed by a 3 p.m. ceremony and a 7 p.m. buffet, showed that the state has continued to make room for Ellison’s story in public life.

For Welch, the value of Friday’s celebration was immediate and local. It linked McDowell County to a musician whose roots run through Fayette County and southern West Virginia, while giving residents a public moment to claim his success as part of their own cultural identity. By folding the tribute into LOST Stories, organizers made Ellison’s homecoming more than an appearance. They turned it into a reminder that McDowell County has stories worth celebrating, and voices from here that reached far beyond the coalfields.