The Aces, originally known as The Four Aces, were a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n vocal group who are best known for their work with

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...

History

The initial line-up of The Aces consisted of Clive Campbell, Barry Howard, Carl Howard, and Patrick Howard. The group came to the attention of Dekker, who supported them when they auditioned for

Leslie Kong Leslie Kong (20 December 1933 – 9 August 1971) was an influential Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer. Career Leslie and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley's in Orange Stre ...

at Beverley's studio in 1965. Kong employed the group as backing singers for Dekker and they can be heard on the song "Get Up Adinah" (credited as The Four Aces). They provided the backing vocals on Dekker's major hit "

007 (Shanty Town) "007 (Shanty Town)" is a 1967 rocksteady song by Jamaican band Desmond Dekker and the Aces, released as a single from their debut album of the same name. It was also a hit for Musical Youth in 1983. "007 (Shanty Town)" has been called "the mos ...

" as well as the track "Music Like Dirt (Intensified '68)" (the winning song of the 1968 Jamaica Independence Festival Song Contest). By 1967, the only remaining members were Barry Howard and Winston Samuels and it was their backing vocals that featured on Dekker's track, "

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

". Dekker's international success led to him touring overseas, although The Aces did not accompany him due to Samuels refusal to fly (Samuels stating that "Rastas did not fly on iron birds") and Barry Howard's decision to emigrate to the United States. The Aces continued to record under their own name (without Dekker) and had a Jamaican hit in 1970 with "Mademoiselle Ninette". By 1971 the line-up had changed again, with Barry Howard now rejoined by Carl Hall. A string of hits followed with "Reggae Motion", "Take a Look", "Oh I Miss You", "Call Me Number One", "Be My Baby", and "Sad Sad Song". Their song "Working on it Night and Day", entered the pop charts in 1973. Little more was heard from the group until 1982 when they released "One Way Street".

Members

*Clive Campbell (1965) *Easton Barrington "Barry" Howard (1965–1969) *Carl Howard *Patrick Howard *Patrick Johnson (1965) *Winston James Samuels (left 1969, died 2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aces, The Jamaican reggae musical groups Jamaican ska groups Trojan Records artists Musical groups established in 1965 Musical backing groups