While Elvis Presley recorded Pledging My Love in his last studio session in 1976. Pledging My Love appeared on the Moody Blue album, which premiered in 1977 and was a #1 Country & Western hit for Elvis. However, Elvis’ single didn’t make it as high up the pop charts as Johnny’s original version. Although there were other versions of Ace’s hit, none of the subsequent versions ever hit as high on the charts as Johnny’s original hit.

Johnny’s Singles Resung Again by Music Artists

Even after his death, Johnny’s musical influence rang on in movies and in artists playing versions of his songs. His #1 hit, Pledging My Love, was used in the films Mean Streets, Christine, and Back to the Future. Aretha Franklin also covered a version of My Song in 1968 as the flip side of the track SeeSaw. Dave Allen wrote the song Johnny Ace was Dead in 2011, and another band created A Johnny Ace Christmas for one of their albums.

Paul Simon Writes and Performs The Late Great Johnny Ace

Paul Simon writes The Late Great Johnny Ace. Upon hearing this song, a boy orders a photograph of the singer. Noting that Kennedy and Lennon became the Johnny Aces of their time, Simon adds a one-minute coda by Johnny Glass.

First performed during the Simon & Garfunkel reunion conference, an audience member rushes the stage as Paul is singing his song in NYC. In Central Park, just feet away from where John Lennon was shot and killed, Paul talked to the man who rushed the stage. He later talks about this experience while performing on the David Letterman show in 1982. Halfway through performing the Johnny Ace song, one of his guitar strings broke. Simon commented that he didn’t know if he would ever sing the song again as he was so choked up from the song.

Finishing and performing the Johnny Ace song on Saturday Night Live in 1986, on the 23rd anniversary of the JFK assassination.

Listen in to discover why Paul Simon wrote the song about Johnny Ace even though he wasn’t a huge fan of the singer, how his music has affected music industry culture, and our final reflections on Johnny Ace.

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The spring of 1955 brought high billboard charting to Johnny Ace’s song, which became a #1 hit, Pledging My Love, his eighth #1 Billboard hit in R&B. In the spring following Ace’s passing, his songs weren’t only charting at the top of R&B charts, they were also crossing over into the charts of Pop music as well. With the record label’s next move to release the next of The Duke’s Record LP, their first long-play and 33-speed record, the ten-inch record titled Memorial Album for Johnny Ace.

Johnny Ace and His Memorial Singles and Albums

Accompanied with dramatic liner notes as a tribute to Ace’s music, his latest album, published after his death in the spring of 1955, music listeners couldn’t get enough of his talent. White and black teens across the country were looking for more 45 singles of Johnny Ace’s music and the record company provided them with a double EP, two 45s, named Memorial Album Johnny Ace and a Tribute to Johnny Ace, covering eight of Ace’s previous hits.

Requests for Johnny Ace Memorabilia

While the record company was selling memorial albums as soon as they were produced, they also found themselves swamped with requests for photos of Johnny Ace from fans, which poured in from all over the country. Paul Simon was quoted, “The photos were sent to the fans, post haste, with the signature at the bottom.”

The Band Post Ace’s Death

Even though Johnny was gone, the band still played out the six-month promotion cycle for music production. Duke now starts releasing a pre-recorded song that held and didn’t previously produce. With the two songs Anymore and the flip side of the record playing How Can You Be So Mean? These two songs were a cut-and-paste copy of the previous tracks.

Listen in to discover what Johnny’s band produced in the July 1954 Houston recording session, the last one before his death, how the new music which was last recorded had a different sound, and how his hit single Pledging My Love compared with other singles he launched previously.

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Johnny Ace’s song, which became a #1 hit, Pledging My Love, his eighth #1 Billboard hit in R&B. Billboard Magazine was just starting an R&B section for the new year, right after the death of Johnny Ace. The section measured record sales and jukebox plays and included buying the single Pledging My Love as the best buy for the week. Unfortunately, since the news industry ran at a slower pace, not everyone knew about Ace’s death when it occurred. This episode covers how the information about Johnny Ace’s passing moved through the music industry and listeners.

What the Press Had to Say About Johnny Ace

The Pittsburgh Courier stated, "Johnny Ace trumped his own ace, in a dangerous game. They carried his body back to the Cradles of the Blues to whence it sprang. He played well, but not wisely. That’s when the Blues walked in, and they carried Johnny out.”

January 1st, 1955, Billboard Magazine proclaimed, “Out of the many things to be thankful for on the R&B scene, Johnny Ace was high on the list - especially coming off eight hits in a row.” Although the magazine was behind in the news, they kept pitching him without letting his audience know that Johnny was dead.

After the initial publication at the beginning of the year, Billboard Magazine added an additional commentary in the following week’s publication. “The recent death of Ace gave an impetus that would have probably been heavy for sales in any case. It’s spiraling upwards at dazzling speed and is almost as popular with pop customers as with R&B.”

Producing His Last Song - Pledging My Love by Johnny Ace

We feel that this last song production was of better quality than the previous productions. The melody was tighter, and it seemed more professional. This hit eluded a culmination of skills and talents that Johnny accrued over his short and brief time in the music industry.

Listen in to discover how Johnny’s death affected his music sales, why we feel that his last love song was his best work, how Don Robey reacted to his death, and why he moved the dates of his death to heighten and romanticize the scandal surrounding Johnny Ace’s passing.

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