Mr. Ronnie Barnes was born and raised in Elizabeth City , North Carolina which where he began singing in front of audiences at age thirthteen. his very first public performance was a talent show held at a local junior high school. He recalls being very nervous but brought the house down and won the competition singing an Otis Redding song titled My Lovers Prayer. Soon after he became the lead singer of The Soul Vibrations which later became The Sounds of Time. The group became so popular they played nearly every high school dance in town.