Ace (band)

Ace were a British rock band, who enjoyed moderate success in the 1970s. Their membership included Paul Carrack, who later became famous as the lead vocalist of Mike + The Mechanics and as a solo artist. Ace are best known for their hit single "How Long?", which was a UK top-20 single in 1974 and reached No 3 in the US in 1975.

Career

The band was formed in December 1972 in Sheffield as 'Ace Flash and the Dynamos', but this name was quickly abbreviated to just Ace. The members were assembled from various other professional bands. Carrack and Comer had previously played with Warm Dust, and King with Mighty Baby, whose antecedents were the 1960s band The Action. Ace were popular on the pub rock circuit. Their music was pop with a funk influence.

Before the recording of their debut album, Five-A-Side, ex-Bees Make Honey drummer Fran Byrne replaced Steve Witherington. The single "How Long?" (a song about Comer considering to leave the group; he later remained with the band) was taken from this record, and was a significant chart success, achieving a Top 20 place in the UK Singles Chart, and reaching number three in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1975. The Five-a-Side album did well on its own, too, peaking at #11 on the Billboard album charts.

Ace

An ace is a playing card. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the Ace of Spades. This embellishment on the Ace of Spades started when King James VI of Scotland and I of England required an insignia of the printing house to be printed on the Ace of Spades. This insignia was necessary for identifying the printing house and stamping it as having paid the new stamp tax. Although this requirement was abolished in 1960, the tradition has been kept by many card makers. In other countries the stamp and embellishments are usually found on ace cards; clubs in France, diamonds in Russia, and hearts in Genoa because they have the most blank space.

The word "ace" comes from the Old French word as (from Latin 'as') meaning 'a unit', from the name of a small Roman coin. It originally meant the side of a die with only one mark, before it was a term for a playing card. Since this was the lowest roll of the die, it traditionally meant 'bad luck' in Middle English, but as the ace is often the highest playing card, its meaning has since changed to mean 'high-quality, excellence'. This connotation has seen the word applied to an unreachable tennis serve, a successful fighter pilot and more generally as a person proficient in his or her field, especially a sporting field.

Band

Band or BAND may refer to:

Science and technology

Computing and electronics

Organizations