Ace were a British rock band who enjoyed moderate success in the 1970s. Their members included

Paul Carrack Paul Melvyn Carrack (born 22 April 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and composer who has recorded as both a solo artist and as a member of several popular bands. The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice", while '' ...

, who later became famous as a vocalist for Mike + The Mechanics and as a solo artist. Ace were perhaps best known for their hit single " How Long", which was a top 20 single in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1974, and reached no. 3 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1975.

Career

The band formed in December 1972 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

as "Ace Flash and the Dynamos", but soon shortened the name to "Ace". The members were assembled from various professional bands. Carrack and Terry Comer had previously played with Warm Dust, and Alan "Bam" King with Mighty Baby and before that the 1960s band The Action. Fusing elements of pop and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, Ace achieved popularity on the pub rock circuit. Before the recording of their debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, '' Five-A-Side'', the former

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

of Bees Make Honey, Fran Byrne, replaced Steve Witherington. The single " How Long" was taken from this record, and was a significant

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

success, achieving a top 20 place in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching number three in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1975. The ''Five-A-Side'' album did well on its own too, peaking at number 11 on the ''Billboard'' 200. Carrack, the band's keyboardist and chief songwriter, sang lead on "How Long", while follow-up singles were sung by other band members. Ace eventually moved to the United States, replacing Phil Harris with Jon Woodhead in June 1976, and releasing their third and final album ''No Strings'' in January 1977. Unlike earlier Ace LPs, the latter featured Carrack's vocals, with Carrack singing lead on the two singles issued from the album. The singles did not chart and Ace disbanded in July 1977, when Carrack, Comer and Byrne all joined Frankie Miller's backing band. In addition to his solo career, Carrack has since played with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, Nick Lowe,

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

and his The Bleeding Heart Band,

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

for the ''

Manifesto A manifesto is a written declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party, or government. A manifesto can accept a previously published opinion or public consensus, but many prominent ...

'' album and tour, Squeeze in the early 1980s, and Mike + The Mechanics, for which he is best known. His solo re-recording of "How Long" became a UK top 40 hit again in 1996.

Personnel

(born 22 April 1951,

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

) – keyboards,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

(1972–1977) * Alan "Bam" King (born 18 September 1946,

Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath. Kentish Town likely derives its name from Ken-ditch or Caen-ditch, meaning the "bed of a waterw ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

) –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

, vocals (1972–1977) * Terry "Tex" Comer (born 23 February 1949, Burnley,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

) – bass (1972–1977) * Phil Harris (born Philip Harris, 18 July 1948, Muswell Hill, London) –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, vocals (1972–1976) * Steve Witherington (born 26 December 1953, Enfield,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

) – drums (1972–1974) * Fran Byrne (born 17 March 1948,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

) –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

(1974–1977) * Jon Woodhead – lead guitar, vocals (1976–1977)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* ''Six-A-Side'' (1982) * ''How Long: The Best of Ace'' (1987) * ''The Very Best of Ace'' (1993) * ''The Best of Ace'' ( Varèse, 2003)

Singles

References

External links

Peel Sessions – 25 March 1975
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ace English pop rock music groups Musical groups established in 1972 Musical groups disestablished in 1977 English soft rock music groups English pub rock musical groups Musical groups from Sheffield