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 JOHNNY ACE

“PLEDGING MY LOVE”

(Ferdinard Washington, Don Robey)    

Duke 136

No. 17    March 19, 1955

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Johnny Ace killed himself with a gun while playing Russian Roulette one month before the release of

what would become his lone pop hit. He has been called rock and roll’s first fatality, by some others

whisper of John by being the victim of some sinister plot. But all have called his passing an extreme

tragedy.

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Here was a singer who could mix blues and ballads with a profound sadness and in a manner unheard

of, before and since. James Mattis, his manager, struggling to define Ace’s unique talent, told Whiskey,

Women And… : “He had that funny voice surrounded by soft purpie-sounds. Ah, [like] Nat Cole. It wasn’t

a style …it was something natural.” Johnny had spent two short but solid years atop Billboard’s R & B

listings, with “My Song” (R&B: #I,1952),”Cross My Heart” (R&B:#3, 1953),”The Clock” (R&B: #I, 1953),

“Saving My Love For You” (R&B: #2,1954),”Please For-give Me” (R&B:#6,1954),and “Never Let Me Go”

(R&B: #9, 1954). Everything he recorded charted, and his following, though largely black, was becoming

massive. White radio was discovering the Platters and Fats Domino, and no doubt would soon find Ace

to be equally accessible.

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But all that changed on Christmas Eve of 1954 at Houston’s Civic Auditorium. It was just before mid­

night, and Ace had just finished his performance. An audience of 2,000-plus was still jumping and jiving

when Johnny went backstage to celebrate with his band. B. B. King, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton,

and possibly a dozen others were in his dressing room when Johnny pulled out his recently purchased

gun, put it to his right temple  and pulled the trigger, once.

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St. Clair Ace (a.k.a. Buddy Ace), John’s younger brother and fellow Duke Recording artist, believes that

his sib was murdered. “I don’t want to mention names,” he told The Chicago Sun Times’ Dave Hoekstra,

“because the guy might not be dead, but one of (the musicians) who played in his band told me the

murder wasn’t like they said it was. Taxes had Don Robey (then ­owner of Duke Records] tied up. I was

told he was putting a lot of trips (for Ace) down for places that he never played.

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Johnny’s sister, Norma Williams, now a secretary at a Memphis school, disputes this appraisal. “We

thought about foul play until we talked to (Johnny’s girlfriend) Williams told Hoekstra.”She told us she

was seated in Johnny’s lap when he got the gun and she put her temple against his head. The bullet went

in one side of his temple, but didn’t come through.

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“She told us they had been doing this on the road show. During intermission, they would go back in

the dressing room and each person took turns with the gun. She didn’t say how many people had pulled

the trigger, but they certainly had been engaged in the game before it got to Johnny.

Johnny Ace was born John Marshal Alexanderer in Memphis on June 9, 1929.After completing some

years at Booker T.Washington High, he enlisted in the Navy. During his absence, Johnny’s mom had

purchased a piano and after his discharge in 1947, he took a serious interest in the sounds that box could

make. By 1949, he was playing well enough to win a slot with Adolph Duncan’s band (a unit that evolved

into the Beale Streeters, with sometime members that included Bobby “Blue” Bland, Earl Forrest, Roscoe

Gordon, and B. B. King) and later, a job with B. B. King’s group.

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When B. B. hit pay dirt and the road in 1951 with his “3 O ‘Clock Blues,” Johnny auditioned for a position

as a studio pianist at Memphis’s radio WDIA. One of the executives at the station, David James Mattis,

noticed the kid and his smooth style, and asked him to work as an accompanist on some sessions he had

planned. Mattis had formed Duke Records largely to show off the talents of another WDIA staple, Roscoe

Gordon, and his chauffeur, Bobby “Blue” Bland.

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During one session, Bland had difficulties getting his performance together, so Mattis asked John if he

would like to try a take on the tune. The song was “My Song,” the first recoerd–and the first R.B. Hit-for

Johnny Ace, as he was now known (after the Four Aces).   Two years·of R & B chartings followed before

his tragic end. Duke issued the phenomenally successful “Pledging My Love” and other disks after Ace’s

death, but only one further offering, “Anymore” (R&B:#7, 1955), fared well.

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