Johnny Ace's career lasted barely eighteen months, yet musicians from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon have acknowledged their debt to him. This is the first comprehensive treatment of an enigmatic, captivating, and influential performer.
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Johnny Ace's career lasted barely eighteen months, yet musicians from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon have acknowledged their debt to him. This is the first comprehensive treatment of an enigmatic, captivating, and influential performer.
Read Less
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Very Good in Very Good jacket. CD5-A first edition (complete numberline) hardcover book in very good condition in very good dust jacket. Dust jacket and book have some bumped corners, light discoloration and shelf wear. MUSIC IN AMERICAN LIFE. 9.25"x6.25", 274 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Johnny Ace (John Marshall Alexander Jr. ) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 25. John Alexander was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Leslie Newsome and preacher John Marshall Alexander, and grew up near LeMoyne-Owen College. He dropped out of high school to join the United States Navy. Alexander was reportedly AWOL for much of his duty. After he was discharged, Alexander joined Adolph Duncan's Band as a pianist, playing around Beale Street in Memphis. The network of local musicians became known as the Beale Streeters, which included B. B. King, Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Earl Forest, and Roscoe Gordon. Initially, they weren't an official band, but at times there was a leader and they played on each other's records. In 1951, Ike Turner, a talent scout and producer for Modern Records, arranged for Alexander and other Beale Streeters to record for Turner's label. Alexander played piano on some of King's records for RPM Records and backed King during broadcasts on WDIA in Memphis. When King departed for Los Angeles and Bland left the group, Alexander took over both Bland's vocal duties and King's radio show on WDIA. David James Mattis, program director at WDIA and founder of Duke Records, claimed that he gave Alexander the stage name of Johnny Ace: "Johnny" for Johnny Ray and "Ace" for the Four Aces, but Alexander's younger brother St. Clair Alexander claimed that the singer himself came up with the name Ace when Mattis changed his first name from John to Johnny. Ace signed to Duke in 1952 and released his first recording, "My Song", an urbane "heart ballad" which topped the R&B chart for nine weeks beginning in September. He began heavy touring, often with Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton. In the next two years, Ace had eight hits in a row, including "Cross My Heart", "Please Forgive Me", "The Clock", "Yes, Baby", "Saving My Love for You", and "Never Let Me Go". After Ace had success as a solo artist, the Biharis brothers at Modern released the single "Mid Night Hours Journey" on their subsidiary label Flair Records in September 1953. The flip side was "Trouble and Me" by Forest. In November 1954, Ace ranked No. 16 on the Billboard 1954 Disk Jockey Poll for R&B Favorite Artists. In December 1954, he was named the Most Programmed Artist of 1954, according to the results of a national poll of disc jockeys conducted by the U.S. trade weekly Cash Box. Ace's recordings sold very well during those times. Early in 1955, Duke Records announced that three of his 1954 recordings, along with Thornton's "Hound Dog", had sold more than 1, 750, 000 copies.
