| THE FOUR
ACES (ARTIEST BIOGRAPHY)
They are just a wonderland of wonderful music.
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. Unfortunately, however, the court missed the larger
picture and to this day, the so-called “Four Aces” continue to tour,
using each and every song as their own to make money on songs that
were never theirs to begin with. The court also 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.
The Four Aces were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in
2001. |
