One of the founding members of the singing group, The Four Aces, and a longtime TV talent show host Al Alberts has died at the age of 87. Read more on Al Alberts’ life and death below.
Al Alberts’ son Chris Alberts said his father died Friday at home in Arcadia, Florida from complications due to kidney failure.
Al Alberts was known for featuring child dancers and singers on hiw show “Al Alberts Showcase” for over 30 years in Philadelphia.
Alberts was also a founding member of The Four Aces, which recorded such hits as “Three Coins in the Fountain,” and “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”
Alberts’ wife Stella said her husband had been ill for a few weeks with circulatory problems in his legs but previously had been in good health. “All of a sudden, God took him,” she said.
Steven Sacks, Mr. Alberts’ longtime cameraman, said: “He had a way with children. If they didn’t get something right, he would ask them over and over again.”
W. Carter Merbreier, TV’s Captain Noah, said Mr. Alberts “took great delight in any of them bridging the gap from his show to national fame. He could have made a business career out of squeezing them dry, but he didn’t. He was behind them the whole way.”
Mr. Alberts told an interviewer in 1985: “I have never gotten to the point during an audition where I said, ‘OK, kid, that’s enough.’ I let them have their three minutes in the sun.”
Mr. Alberts’ own career began before World War II as a piano player and singer on The Horn & Hardart Children’s Hour, which was a radio show.
He was born Al Albertini on Aug. 10, 1922. He graduated from South Philadelphia High. And shortly after the war Al Alberts and his Navy friend Dave Mahoney, Sod Vaccaro and Lou Silvestri formed the Four Aces, who first performed in a Prospect Park milk bar downstairs from a bookie joint.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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