In 1962, J. D. Sumner became the manager of The Stamps Quartet. Three years later, he left The Blackwood Brothers Quartet to sing with them, which became known as J.D. Sumner & The Stamps. Elvis Presley, while as a teenager, idolized Sumner’s singing after seeing him perform with The Sunshine Boys Quartet. Presley hired J.D. Sumner & The Stamps as his back-up singers in 1971. The group toured and recorded with Presley from November 1971 until Presley’s death in 1977.