How many men in the 1950s would like to have been called Johnny Ace? The above Johnny Ace was born John Marshall Alexander Jr, in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1929, and after serving in the Navy during World War 2, took up piano in the Adolph Ducan band for a while. He then joined up with the seminal Memphis group The Beale Streeters, which included in their number Earl Forest and a young Bobby Bland.