Biography

The black aces are a gritty, raw, dirty blues duo with an oceans depth of soul & emotion. First you have Front man Johnny Sharp on lead guitar and hoarse, screamed vocals. All too often people talk about smoke and whiskey ripped throats, but in the case of Johnny, his vocal cords appear to be held together by only a few sinewy strands & giving every ounce of his guitar skills and soul he has in every performance. Johnny is backed up by ‘AJ’ on the mouth harp and vocals. Hugely influenced by lil’ Walter Horton & Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) & forty years of playing in the business, you are left with a wall of sound that hits you in the jaw like you were caught dancing with someone else’s girl. The Black aces’ high-voltage blues sound is downright unearthly & unmistakably unique. Blistering electric slide & lead guitar with soul wrenching vocals mixed with ancient beat up overdriven tube amps distill old-school Mississippi blues down to its rowdiest essence. This duo has some heavyweight major mojo.

The Band

Johnny Sharp - Guitar/Vocals

Jon took up learning the guitar with a keen interest when he was just eight years old & quickly progressed being naturally gifted & formed his first band while still at school. After leaving college with a Diploma in Performing Arts in 1998 he then enrolled at The London Music School (LMS) to further his musical knowledge & career. During his time in London Jon started gaining a good reputation on the underground club circuit, often Playing in on jam sessions and at venues such as the 12 bar club, 100 club & blues clubs of Soho & Camden. After a period as lead guitarist with 'Pete Bennett and the blues explosion' which was a modern day 1960's reincarnation of 'John Mayall's Bluesbreakers', he released two solo albums on Bluesville records. Jon then briefly joined rock band ‘Countermine’ on tour, who played alongside Snow Patrol, The Charlatans & David Bowie at the Isle of Wight festival in 2004 and supported 80's legends 'Blondie' & 'Simple minds' on tour. He has since sessioned & been lead guitarist in many bands including blues outfit The Spoonful, Retrovibe, Chris Starling, Cosmic Jug, Denim, Colorfall & Maelstrom. Jon has also worked in the past with producer Paul Corkett (Radiohead, Portishead, Turin Brakes, Jet) with many credits to his name and formed 'The Black Aces' in the summer of 2009.

AJ Sharp - Blues Harp/Vocals

AJ has been playing the blues harp now for over 45 years. His musical career started when he was given a Harmonica for his 21st birthday, and developed a deep interest in blues music after seeing 'The Animals' perform at St Luke's college Exeter in the blues boom of 1964. AJ's playing style has been influenced by some of the blues harp greats including 'Sonny Boy Williamson', 'Little Walter Horton', 'Sonny Terry' and more recently 'Paul Lamb' & ex-mannfred mann 'Paul Jones'.