A native of Chicago, Trace played professional baseball before deciding on music as a career.

Starting in early 1943 and continuing during and after World War II, the Al Trace Orchestra, including the vocalists Toni Arden and Bob Vincent, were familiar regulars on the Chicago-based It Pays to Be Ignorant, one of the most popular shows of the era known as the Golden Age of Radio.

Others included Spike Jones and His City Slickers, the Hoosier Hot Shots and the Korn Kobblers.

In February 1945, radio stations introduced "Sioux City Sue", performed by Al Trace and His Silly Symphonists (National Records 5007).

In 1975, shortly after his 74th birthday, he retired from active work as a songwriter and bandleader and joined with another ex-bandleader to form a booking agency in Scottsdale, Arizona.