The Late Great Johnny Ace and the Transition from R&B to Rock 'n' Roll

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 performer whose biggest hit, "Pledging My Love", would top the R&B charts and cross over to pop after he died playing Russian roulette in his dressing room between sets at a packed "Negro Christmas dance" in Houston.

Summary

If Elvis Presley was a white man who sang in a predominantly black style, Johnny Ace was a black man who sang in a predominantly white one. This title presents a treatment of this influential performer taking the reader to Beale Street in Memphis and to Houston's Fourth Ward, both vibrant black communities where the music never stopped.

Product details

• Authors: James M. Salem
• Publisher: University Of Illinois Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 24.01.2001
• EAN: 9780252069697
• ISBN: 978-0-252-06969-7
• No. of pages: 320
• Dimensions: 230 mm x 154 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 464 g
• Series: Music in American Life (Paperb; Music in American Life
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Geosciences > Geography