Johnny Vincent

Johnny Vincent (1927–February 2000), a former American record producer for Art Rupe at Specialty Records, founded Ace Records in 1955 in Jackson, Mississippi, 165 miles away from New Orleans. Although Vincent started out recording local blues musicians, in 1956 he branched out into into New Orleans rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He signed up Huey "Piano" Smith and his group who was able to develop a New Orleans shuffle style distinctive from the Fats Domino jumping boogie rhythm.cite book
first=Charlie
last=Gillett
year= 1996
title= The Sound of the City: The Rise of Rock and Roll
edition= (2nd Ed.)
publisher= Da Capo Press
location=New York, N.Y.
pages= p. 95
id= ISBN 0-306-80683-5]

History

Johnny Vincent was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and died in Jackson, Mississippi. He moved to Jackson in the late 1940s and opened a record shop and started the Champion Records label in the early fifties.cite web
url=http://www.bluesworld.com/Vincent.html
title=Remembering Johnny Vincent 1927 2000
publisher=bluesworld
accessdate=2006-11-24 ]

Then Art Rupe offered him a job as A&R man at Specialty where Johnny worked with John Lee Hooker, Earl King, and Huey "Piano" Smith. His greatest hit was with Guitar Slim and "The Things That I Used to Do" an R&B # 1 in 1954. He left Specialty to found Ace.

Ace enjoyed several national hits in the late 1950s, such as Huey "Piano" Smith's "Rockin' Pneumonia & Boogie Woogie Flu," a series of Jimmy Clanton hits, and Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise", but by 1962 the difficulties in distribution for a small independent label forced Vincent to close down the label.

Vincent reactivated the label in 1971 to produce some new music and reissue the treasures from the label's vault and by leasing the masters to other labels. In 1997, he sold the label to Music Collection International, a British label. [cite web
url=http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/johnnyvincent.txt
title=Johnny Vincent
publisher=
accessdate=2006-11-24 ]

Footnotes

References

* Recommended listening: The Ace Story, Vol. 1-5 (Ace CD 2031-2035).

External links

* [http://www.bluesworld.com/Vincent.html Johnny Vincent]
* [http://www.geocities.com/shakin_stacks/johnnyvincent.txt Johnny Vincent from "Dik de Heer"]

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