The Four Aces

The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2001. To prevent people from assuming that the "monkey" mentioned in the album's title might be a reference to former member Cee-Lo, the current members have stated that it is actually more or less a reference to the industry (Goodie Mob was dropped from Arista after lackluster sales of their commercial effort World Party) and truly believe that this album will pick up where Still Standing left off. In 1975 a court awarded Diodati the right to the name in a court suit in which the original members tried to establish their right. Despite the group's woes as performers and as people, their new album One Monkey Don't Stop No Show was released in June, without Cee-Lo. Eventually the group broke up, but Diodati still has a group which he calls the Four Aces, though it contains none of the original members. His debut single, "Steppin' Out" featured southern R&B newcomer, Sleepy Brown, on the chorus and received some radio and video airplay. He was replaced as lead singer by Fred Diodati, who had attended South Philadelphia High School a few years after Alberts. Other than Cee-Lo's commercial achievements, Big Gipp is the only Goodie Mobb member who achieved some notoriety as a soloist.

Alberts, however, left the group in 1956 to try to make it as a soloist, but never made the charts. The solo array was rounded out by the vet, Big Gipp's 2003 Mutant Mind Frame. They played locally in the Philadelphia area, and Alberts started his own record label, Victoria Records, when they could not find a distributor to release their first record, (It's No) Sin. It sold a million copies, and Decca Records soon signed the group, billing them as The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts.. Next, Khujo Goodie, despite a near fatal car crash that cost him a leg, released Man Not The Dog. Originally, Alberts sang with Mahoney playing behind him, and later they added Vaccaro on trumpet and Silvestri on drums. T-Mo started the trend with his 2000 album, T-Mo 2 The Fullest; this was followed by Cee-Lo Green And His Perfect Imperfections. Alberts went to South Philadelphia High School, Temple University, and the United States Navy, where he met Mahoney. Cee-Lo was not the first and definitely not the last member of the group to try his hand at a solo career.

The original members were Al Alberts (originally Albertini), Dave Mahoney, Lou Silvestri, and Rosario "Sol" Vaccaro. They all came from Chester, Pennsylvania. His 2003 single "I'll Be Around" (featuring megastar producer and fellow southerner Timbaland) was a much more commercially successful song, but still maintained his idiosyncratic style. The Four Aces were a pop singing group. The album explored many new frontiers for hip hop, with elements of soul, jazz and pop combined with Cee-Lo's signature vocal style, positive messages and constantly changing delivery. Group member Cee-Lo has since embarked on a solo career, releasing the critically acclaimed album Cee-Lo Green And His Perfect Imperfections in 2002, to limited commercial success. In1999, the group released World Party, their third release.

The album's follow-up was Still Standing, which expanded Goodie Mob's considerable fanbase just as the Dirty South broke into the mainstream with OutKast's Stankonia. Along with OutKast's Southernplayalisticadillacmuzak, it put Atlanta on the hip-hop map. Based out of Atlanta, Goodie Mob's debut, Soul Food (1995) was critically acclaimed. Goodie Mob is one of the premiere hip hop acts to come out of the Dirty South.