The Four Aces vocal group

The story of The Four Aces started when Philadelphia born Al Alberts was serving in the U.S. Navy and teamed up with tenor saxist Dave Mahoney. After discharge in 1946 they performed back in Pennsylvania as a duo, and then with local boys Rosario (Sod) Voccaro on trumpet and drummer Lou Silvestri, formed an instrumental combo. Pretty soon they discovered they were even better vocalists than musicians. Al was the lead and Dave, Sod and Lou added the tenor, baritone and bass voices. After a while of singing local dates they were approached by songwriters George Hoven and Chester Shull with a number they had written called '(It's No) Sin.' When the song received it privately on a label they christened Victoria. Local radio station plays soon spread across the State and eventually the country. In the end the record sold over a million copies. Eventually, the group was signed by Decca who released their second million copy seller, 'Tell Me Why.' A change of backing orchestra from Owen Bradley to Jack Pleis then brought further successes with 'Heart of My Heart,' their first American No.1, the million selling 'Three Coins in the Fountain,' and their top 10 version of 'Mister Sandman.' Al Alberts left the group in 1958 to pursue a solo career and was replaced by Freddie Diodatti, who fronted the foursome on their 1959 chart success 'The World Outside.' Dave and Sod left the group in the Sixties. The final member, Lou, left in 1976 to join the other members in a group, which was named The Original Four Aces, who continued to perform until 1987.

Golden Memories

A pair of Philadelphia boys, Al Alberts and Dave Mahoney, finding themselves in the North Atlantic in the Navy in WWII, killed time by singing together. Joining two more local boys, Rosario and Louis, they formed the Four Aces, following in the footsteps of the Ames Brothers. Their first hit was "(It's No) Sin," which was shopped to no avail to New York record companies, and finally released by Al, who started his own record company, Victoria Records, to do it. The song peaked on Billboard's charts at #4 in 1951, and the Aces were quickly signed by Decca. The group-written "Tell Me Why," "A Garden in the Rain," "Perfidia," "I'm Yours" and "Heart and Soul" were next to climb high on the charts. Appearing frequently on TV, Aces singles "La Rosita," "Just Squeeze Me," "Laughing on the Outside" and "The Gang that Sang (Heart of My Heart)" were among 8 of the group's hits in 1952. "Stranger in Paradise" went to #2 on the charts, which the Aces finally topped with the theme from the movie "Three Coins in a Fountain." Popular hits "Dream" and "So Long," followed, and "Mr. Sandman" and "Melody of Love" scored in Billboard's top five before the floodgates of Rock 'n Roll opened in 1955, and even that year the Aces had another chart-topper with "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." Here is a fabulous 3 CD box set collection of all their greatest hits.

Greatest Hits

Close harmony groups, such as the Four Freshmen and Four Aces, were quite viable commercially, before the advent of rock and roll made so many of them redundant. Such was the case with the Four Aces, who had over thirty top forty hits before 1958. Many of the songs on this "Greatest Hits" CD were from these hit singles, and include such classic compositions as "Should I" "Perfidia" and "Melody Of Love, " which had been popularized decades earlier. Showy orchestrations compliment the confident lead of Al Alberts and the harmonies of his emphatic cohorts, who had evolved into a tight and effective unit.

Love Is A Many Splendid Thing

With its roots in Philadelphia, close-harmony all male quartet The Four Aces first began performing together in 1949 and scored their first big hit with "It's No Sin" in 1952. They followed up with top 10 hits "Tell Me Why," "Perfida," "The Gang That Sang Heart of My Heart," "Should I?," "Melody of Love," which hit #3 on the charts, "Mister Sandman" (#5), "Stranger in Paradise" (#3) and "Three Coins In The Fountain" (#1). 28 all-accompanied songs by this enormously popular group, 25 chart hits and 10 top tens, recorded from 1951 to 1955, records which have sold over 100 million copies. A generous, spirited collection by Vocal Hall of Famers, the Aces!

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