Pledging My Love

1969 Is the Twentieth Anniversary of Duke/Peacock Records of Houston, Texas, one of the best R & B Soul companies.This song was written by Don Robey, who owned the Bronze Peacock Lounge in Houston and founded Peacock Records, where Johnny Ace recorded. Peacock specialized in heartfelt Blues ballads, and while these songs didn't have wide commercial appeal, many of them stood the test of time and are considered classics by fans of R&B/Blues.

In "Pledging My Love," Ace sings passionately about how he will always be there for his girl. Other artists on the Peacock label also recorded similar sensitive Blues songs, notably by Bobby "Blue" Bland.Johnny Ace was the first to do really well, particularly with slow sad ballads which invariably had him feeling very sorry for himself and stirred deep passions in his lady listeners. His biggest hit was 'Pledging My Love', a pop song written by Robey which Ace sang with the intensity of a blues: the singer has the macabre distinction of being the first name in the Hall Fame of modern rhythm and blues singers who died too young, followed by Willis, Belvin, Cooke, and Redding. Strangely, the singer who seemed to be Ace's successor as Robey's ballad singer, Joe Hinton, also died young.

This song was released shortly after Johnny Ace died on Christmas day, 1954. He shot himself with a gun, either by accident or playing Russian Roulette, depending on who is telling the story. Regardless, he was one of the first artists of the modern R&B to die young (he was 25). Other artists in this genre who died before their time include Joe Hinton, Chuck Willis, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.

This song plays in the movie Back To The Future when Marty McFly turns up at the school dance with his mom. The song also appears in the movies Mean Streets and Christine.