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Johnny Ace lived the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle some years before the true birth of rock ’n’ roll. By all accounts, it was to be the death of him, too. Perhaps surprisingly for the son of a preacher man, he was a notorious philanderer, with a fascination for guns, prone to violent, drunken outbursts. He was an absentee husband and father, dishonourably discharged from the United States Navy, and banned from his parents home for playing the blues - a real prototype of a rock ’n’ roll bad boy. Yet it cannot be denied the man born John Alexander was destined for musical greatness. He was a gifted pianist, songwriter, and soulful R &B singer who enjoyed two short years in the limelight, scoring several No.1 hits, and recording and performing with some of the most esteemed R&B artists of the time. That it would all come to a bloody end on Christmas Day 1954, at the dawning of the rock ’n’ roll era, just adds to his mystique and the legend of Johnny Ace.
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