Bobby Moore

by Jason Ankeny
Best remembered for their 1966 R&B smash "Searching for My Love," Bobby Moore & the Rhythm Aces were the first act on Chicago-based Chess Records to record at Muscle Shoals, Alabama's legendary Fame Studios. New Orleans-born tenor saxophonist Moore assembled the first Rhythm Aces lineup in 1952 while stationed in Fort Benning, GA. The group played military dances and nightclubs throughout the south for several years before dissolving, and upon settling in Montgomery, Alabama in 1961, Moore recruited a new roster including his brother Larry Moore on alto sax, vocalist/guitarist Chico Jenkins, guitarist Marion Sledge, bassist Joe Frank, keyboardist Clifford Laws, and drummer John Baldwin, Jr. A longtime mainstay of the Montgomery club circuit, the Rhythm Aces backed visiting singers including Sam Cooke and Ray Charles before signing to Chess' Checker subsidiary in early 1966. Their smoldering debut "Searching for My Love," featuring Jenkins on lead vocal duties, sold over a million copies and cracked the Billboard pop Top 40, inspiring Chess to book its other artists studio time at Fame, most notably Etta James. The Rhythm Aces' soundalike follow-up "Try My Love Again" inched into the Hot 100, and in 1967 their third Checker release "Chained to Your Heart" cracked the R&B countdown, but the group never repeated the success of "Searching for My Love," and after a three-year recording hiatus, Checker issued "Your Love and My Love Together" before terminating Moore's contract. He nevertheless remained a Montgomery fixture for decades to follow, leading a revolving Rhythm Aces lineup that later included son Bobby Moore, Jr., who took control of the group following his father's death from kidney failure on February 1, 2006.