Johnny Vincent

Record producer, talent scout, composer and record company owner John Vincent Imbraguglio  (Johnny Vincent) was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on 3 October 1927.

After high school he joined the Merchant Marines. 

In the late 1940s he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he opened a record shop. In 1953 Art Rupe offered him a job at Specialty Records as talent scout and record producer, his biggest success being "The things I used to do" by Guitar Slim, which featured musical arrangement by Ray Charles.

He left Specialty in 1955 to form his own company. Despite being located in Mississippi, at 209 West Capitol Street, (pictured below), Ace Records became incredibly important for New Orleans music. The company's first hit, "These Lonely Lonely Nights," featured New Orleans blues artist Earl King.

Ace Records was successful through the late 1950s and into the 1960s, but as more record companies such as Minit began popping up in New Orleans, and he started experiencing distribution problems for his records, artists began leaving Vincent. A British company, Music Collection International, bought Ace Records for a reported one million pounds in 1997. 

Johnny Vincent died from heart failure in Jackson, Mississippi, on 4 February 2000.

Ace's premises are featured on the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Images: Public Domain; LoopNet.