Al Trace

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Albert J. Trace (December 25, 1900—August 31, 1993) was a prolific American songwriter and orchestra leader whose peak of popularity was reached in the Chicago area during the Big Band era.

A native of Chicago, he played professional baseball before deciding on music as a career. His first jobs during the early 1920s included playing the drums and singing with various bands, until he formed his own band in 1933, playing at the French pavilion at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. When the Fair closed, he began a long engagement at the Blackrock Restaurant in Chicago, followed by three years at the Sherman Hotel in the same city. Al Trace's band, including vocalists Toni Arden and Bob Vincent became longtime regulars on It Pays to Be Ignorant, one of the most popular shows during the Golden Age of Radio.

Trace recorded for several record companies: Mercury Records, MGM Records, Columbia Records and Damon Records.

He composed over 300 songs, some alone and others as a collaborator—a large number were written under the pseudonyms Clem Watts or Bob Hart. Many of his songs were written with his brother, Ben Trace. Among the Ben Trace/Al Trace collaborations was Al Trace's most successful recording, "You Call Everybody Darlin'" (a #1 hit in 1948). Another very popular song was "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake". In addition to his brother, his collaborators included Al Hoffman, Bob Merrill, and Abner Silver.

In 1975, shortly after his seventy-fourth birthday, he retired from active work as a songwriter and bandleader, and joined with another ex-bandleader to form a booking agency in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Al Trace died of a stroke in Sun City West, Arizona at the age of 92.