Chubby Checker

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Chubby Checker

Good Luck With this on frank!Chubby Checker is the stage name of Ernest Evans (born October 3, 1941), an American Rock and Roll singer-songwriter best known for popularizing the dance The Twist with his 1960 song "The Twist".

He was born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina,[1] and raised in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended south Philadelphia High School with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. The wife of American Bandstand's host Dick Clark suggested the name "Chubby Checker" to Evans as a take-off on then-popular singer Fats Domino. In 1964, he married the Dutch Catharina Lodders, who was Miss Universe in 1962. He "performed" "The Twist" at the 2008 Daytona 500.

Fame

"The Twist" (which had previously peaked at #16 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart in 1959 as recorded by its author, Hank Ballard) was so popular that his public often did not allow him to sing any other style of music. He did popularize many dance songs. Checker later lamented:

...in a way, "The Twist" really ruined my life. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and "The Twist" just wiped it out. It got so out of proportion. No one ever believes I have talent.

He is the only recording artist to have five albums in the Top 12 all at once. He is hailed by many to have changed the way we dance to the beat of music since 1959. [citation needed] Sixties TV personality Clay Cole affirms, "Chubby Checker has never been properly acknowledged for one major contribution to pop culture – Chubby and the Twist got adults out and onto the dance floor for the very first time. Before the Twist dance phenomenon, grownups did not dance to teenage music." In addition, his recording of "Let's Twist Again (Like We Did Last Summer)" rewarded Chubby with the 1961 Grammy Award as “the best rock ‘n’ roll single.” Checker introduced The Twist in July, 1960 on The Clay Cole Show televised live from Palisades Amusement Park.

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Checker had a number of hits with dance-themed records into the mid-1960s, but changes in public taste ended his hitmaking career in 1965. He spent much of the rest of the 1960s touring and recording in Europe. The 1970s saw him become a staple on the oldies circuit and having a minor comeback as a disco artist.

Later years

His material during his 1960s heyday was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records and became unavailable after the early 1970s. His later sixties material included a dancefloor classic cover version of The Beatles "Back in the USSR", released on Buddah Records. None of it was available on compact disc until 2005. (Almost all CD compilations of Checker's hits consist of re-recordings.) Despite his negative view towards his biggest hit single, in the 1980s it granted him a new lease of fame when he recorded a new version of "The Twist" (released in 1987) with rap trio The Fat Boys. The lyrics to this new version implied he was pleased with his association with it. Checker also sang it in a commercial for Oreo cookies in the early-1990s. He then opened his own restaurant, which he continues to run, as well as singing on a regular basis.

Hit songs

Chubby Checker
  • "The Class"
  • "Jingle Bell Rock" (with Bobby Rydell)
  • "The Twist" (#1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 19 in 1960, topping the chart for one week and returning to the top position on January 13, 1962, for two weeks). Checker's recording of "The Twist" is one of only two songs to re-enter the Hot 100 and return to the #1 position (The other is Bing Crosby's recording of "White Christmas".)
  • "The Hucklebuck" - peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961.
  • "Slow Twistin'" (with Dee Dee Sharp)
  • "Pony Time" (written by Don Covay; was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 27, 1961, topping the chart for three weeks)
  • "Let's Twist Again" (1961) [2]
  • "Limbo Rock"
  • "Dancin' Party"
  • "Popeye The Hitchhiker" - peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962

"The Twist," "Pony Time," "Slow Twistin'," "Let's Twist Again" and "Limbo Rock" each sold more than 1 million copies around the world. "The Twist" was re-released in 1961, once again selling over a million. [citation needed] On December 21, 2007 he performed 2 songs at a Milwaukee bucks game. It was 60s night. Checker also performed "The Twist" at the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Daytona 500 on February 17.

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Official site biography
  2. ^ ChubbyChecker.com

see also: "Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990," Record Research Inc., P.O. Box 200, Menomonee Falls WI, 1991 (ISBN 0-89820-089-X)

see also: "Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles 1942-1988," Record Research Inc., P.O. Box 200, Menomonee Falls WI, 1988 (ISBN 0-89820-069-5)

External links


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