The Four Aces

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The Four Aces
Origin Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Genre(s) Traditional Pop
Chicago blues
Years active 1950s
Label(s) Victoria, Decca
Former members
Original: Al Alberts (originally Albertini), Dave Mahoney, Lou Silvestri, and Rosario "Sod" Vaccaro
Subsequent: Fred Diodati

The Four Aces were a pop singing group.

The original members were Al Alberts (originally Albertini), Dave Mahoney, Lou Silvestri, and Rosario "Sod" Vaccaro. They all came from Chester, Pennsylvania.

Alberts went to South Philadelphia High School, Temple University, and the United States Navy, where he met Mahoney. Originally, Alberts sang with Mahoney playing behind him, and later they added Vaccaro on trumpet and Silvestri on drums. They played locally in the Philadelphia area, and Alberts started his own record label, Victoria Records, when they could not find a distributor to release their first record, "(It's No) Sin." It sold a million copies, and Decca Records soon signed the group, billing them as The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts.

Alberts, however, left the group in 1956 to try to make it as a soloist, but never made the charts. He was replaced as lead singer by Fred Diodati, who had attended South Philadelphia High School a few years after Alberts.

Eventually all of the original members left, leaving Diodati to lead a new line-up. In 1975 a court awarded Diodati the right to the name in a court suit in which the original members tried to re-establish their right. The court also, however, allowed the founding members to tour as "The Original Four Aces, Featuring Al Alberts", which they did, finally retiring the act in 1987. Diodati still has a group which he calls the Four Aces, though it contains none of the original members. They now perform at small junctures throughout the eastern United States. In March, 2007, they were seen performing at Busch Gardens Africa, in Tampa Bay.

Contents

[edit] Awards & Recognition

The Four Aces were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001.

[edit] Hit recordings

[edit] External links

[edit] Other uses

In 1948-49, Bill Haley fronted a group called the Four Aces of Western Swing -- often referred to as simply The Four Aces. The style of music this group played was country and western and it was with the group that Haley recorded his first singles for the Cowboy Records label in 1948. The group disbanded in 1949 and Haley went on to form The Saddlemen, which later became Bill Haley & His Comets.

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