20 September 2022

Johnny Ace: The Tear Beat on the Blue Note – Phantom Dancer 20 September 2022

Greg Poppleton's Phantom Dancer swing jazz radio show

Johnny Ace, R’n’B star from the early 1950s, known as ‘The Tear Beat on the Blue Note’, is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature.

The Phantom Dancer is your non-stop mix of swing and jazz from live 1920s-60s radio and TV hosted by me, Greg Poppleton.

Enjoy a whole library of Phantom Dancer mixes online now at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

This show will be online after 2pm AEST, Tuesday 20 September at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/.

JOHNNY

John Marshall Alexander Jr., known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and musician. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Ace died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound playing silly-buggers backstage at a concert, aged 25 and had two children.

Born the son of a baptist preacher who allowed no blues in the house. Ace dropped out of high school to join the US Navy. He was reported AWOL for much of his time there.

On discharge he 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, who was a talent scout and producer for Modern Records, arranged for Ace 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, Ace 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 created the stage name of Johnny Ace: “Johnny” for Johnny Ray and “Ace” for the Four Aces. 

ACE

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”.

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.

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.

“Pledging My Love” was a posthumous R&B number 1 hit for ten weeks beginning February 12, 1955. As Billboard bluntly put it, Ace’s death “created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago.”

Soon after Ace’s death, in early 1955, Varetta Dillard recorded ‘Johnny Has Gone’ for Savoy Records. She incorporated many of Ace’s song titles in the lyrics. This was the first of the many teen tragedy records that were to follow in the later 50s and early 1960s

20 SEPTEMBER PLAY LIST