Buddy Ace born 11 November 1936

Buddy Ace  (November 11, 1936 – December 25, 1994), was an American Texas blues singer, billed as the "Silver Fox of the Blues". 

Born James Lee Land in Jasper, Texas, he grew up in Baytown, Texas, and moved to Houston when he was a teenager. He showed musical talent and played with his family at an early age and performed in a gospel quartet in high school with Texas soul singer Joe Tex. His early influences included Ivory Joe Hunter and Big Joe Turner. Jimmy shifted his focus from gospel to blues and R&B during the early '50s. During this time, he toured with the Bobby Bland and Junior Parker bands. 

Jimmy’s career took an important turn in 1955 when he signed with Houston-based Duke Records.  It was a year earlier, on Christmas Day 1954, that singer, pianist, and Duke recording star Johnny Ace killed himself while playing Russian roulette backstage between performances at Houston’s City Auditorium. In an effort to capitalize on the late singer’s popularity, the Duke label first recruited Johnny Ace’s brother, St. Clair Alexander, to perform as “Buddy Ace.” When that failed, Duke Records owner, Don Robey, turned to Johnny Lee Land, who agreed to perform under the name Buddy Ace. 

                                   

Buddy Ace recorded a string of singles for the Duke label between 1956 and 1969,, including the popular “Angel boy,” but his biggest hits came in the 1960s, which included "Nothing in the World Can Hurt Me (Except You)", which reached number 25 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1966. His second and last hit in the R&B chart was in the following year, "Hold On (To This Old Fool)", which made number 33. His other well-known tracks included "Root Doctor" and "Pouring Water on a Drowning Man". 

In the 1970s Ace moved to California where he lived in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Sacramento. As entered his forties  his hair and beard turned white, earning him the nickname “The Silver Fox of the Blues.” Buddy was not very productive in the 70's and 80's even if he remained active in the club circuit. However, he cut a handful of singles in the 80's for different small labels (Teardrop, Sunny) without success. 

But it was his meeting with producer Leon Haywood that allowed him to re-launch his career by recording albums on the Evejim record label which included Don’t Hurt No More (1994) Silver Fox (1994) and From Me To You Bobby Bland (1995), but he never again had the level of success he had enjoyed during the 1960s. He died of a heart attack on December 26, 1994, while singing "Time To Move On" at a club in Waco, Texas, and is buried at Magnolia Springs Cemetery in Magnolia Springs, Texas. Evejim Records released Ace’s most recent work as From Me to You in 1995.  

(Edited from Texas State Historical Association & Wikipedia)