From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Jun 9, 2002  2:15 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Johnny Ace
 
JOHNNY ACE (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born John Marshall Alexander, Jr., 9 June 1929, Memphis, Tennessee
Died 24 December 1954, Houston, Texas

Johnny Ace shot himself to death, playing Russian Roulette backstage at
the City Auditorium in Houston on Christmas Eve, 1954.
The ballad "Pledging My Love", issued shortly after in January 1955 was a
smash cross-over hit (# 1 R&B for 10 weeks, # 17 pop). Rhythm & Blues
and Rock & Roll music had lost one of its most talented performers.

Johnny Ace was one of the 10 children of Reverend John M. Alexander.
After a spell in the Navy, he was back in Memphis in 1947, and started to
learn piano. By the end of 1949, he worked with "The Beale Street Blues
Boys" (lead singer Bobby "Blue" Bland, guitarist B.B. King) and eventually
got a job at WDIA radio, playing live on-air. In 1952, disc jockey David James
Mathis had established a new record company, Duke Records, and Johnny
was soon drafted into the studio. He cut "My Song", his first single and his
first hit, climbing to # 1 on the R&B charts. His next four singles "Cross My
Heart", "The Clock", "Saving My Love For You" and "Please Forgive Me"
were also sizeable hits. Everything seemed written in golden letters for young
Johnny until that Christmas night in 1954. The alleged story was that Johnny
used to play Russian Roulette and this was one time too much.

Johnny left 10 singles to posterity. His voice was mellow and sweet but he
could rock when the temperature was getting hot.

Recommended listening:
The Johnny Ace Memorial Album CD. MCA MCD 32642, 1995.
(The European edition contains his complete recordings for Duke).

Biography: James M. Salem, The late great Johnny Ace and the transition
from R&B to rock 'n' roll. Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 1999.