Chubby Checker ( born October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song "The Twist", and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song "Pony Time".
Checker was born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina. He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans, and two brothers. By age eleven, Evans formed a street-corner harmony group. By the time he entered high school, Ernest had learned to play the piano a little at Settlement Music School. He entertained his classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. One of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School was Fabian Forte, who would become a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s as Fabian.
After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, including Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market on Ninth Street and at the Produce Market, with songs and jokes. It was his boss at the Produce Market, "Tony A.", who gave Evans the nickname "Chubby". The owner of Fresh Farm Poultry, Henry Colt, was so impressed by the boy's performances for the customers that he, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records, arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. After hearing Chubby's Fats Domino impression, Clark's wife Barbara suggested that Chubby be called "Chubby Checker" in homage to Fats Domino.
In December 1958, Checker privately recorded a novelty single for Clark in which the singer portrayed a school teacher with an unruly classroom of musical performers. The premise allowed Checker to imitate such acts as Fats Domino, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Cozy Cole, and The Chipmunks, each singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Clark sent the song out as his Christmas greeting, and it received such good response that Cameo-Parkway signed Checker to a recording contract. Titled "The Class", the single became Checker's first release, charting at No. 38 in the spring of 1959.
Checker introduced his version of "The Twist" at the age of 18 in July 1960 in Wildwood, New Jersey at the Rainbow Club. "The Twist" went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 not just once in 1960, but yet again in a separate chart run in late 1961. The first success was attributed to teens, and the unprecedented second number-one Billboard ranking was driven by older audiences following a spirited live performance of the song by Checker on The Ed Sullivan Show, seen by over 10 million viewers.
The song was so ubiquitous that Checker felt that his critics thought he could only succeed as a dance demonstrator. Checker later lamented: ""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." By 1965 alone, "The Twist" had sold over 15 million copies, and was awarded multiple gold discs by the RIAA.
Despite Checker's initial disapproval, he found follow-up success with a succession of up-tempo dance tracks, including "The Hucklebuck" (#14), "The Fly" (#7), "Dance the Mess Around" (#24), and "Pony Time", which became his second No. 1 single. Checker's follow-up "twist" single, "Let's Twist Again", won the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording. Checker continued to have top 40 singles until 1965, his last being "Let's Do the Freddie" (#40), a variation on Freddie and the Dreamers' dance tune "Do the Freddie", with new melody and lyrics. Changes in public tastes, owing mostly to the British Invasion and counterculture era, ended his hit-making career. He spent much of the rest of the 1960s touring and recording in Europe.
The 1970s saw a shift and resurgence for his career, including a temporary stint as a disco artist. Checker continued to be a superstar in Europe with television and records. A dance-floor cover version of the Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." released in 1969 on Buddah Records, his first chart entry in three years, reached No. 82. It was Checker's last chart appearance until 1982 when he hit No. 91 with "Running".In 1988, Chubby teamed up with hip-hop trio The Fat Boys with their version of The Twist (Yo, Twist): this reached No 2 in the UK. Checker had a single at No. 1 on Billboard's dance chart in July 2008 with "Knock Down the Walls". The single also made the top 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
In 2014, Checker was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. As of 2024, he is currently touring in America and Canada, but mostly in casinos.
(Edited from Wikipedia & ticketmaster)
For “Chubby Checker – Twistin' USA: The Singles As & Bs 1959-1962 (2020 Jasmine)” go here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.imagenetz.de/hCD8N
1 Chubby Checker – The Class
2 Chubby Checker – School Days, Oh Schooldays
3 Chubby Checker – Whole Lotta Laughin'
4 Chubby Checker – Samson And Delilah
5 Chubby Checker – Dancing Dinosaurs
6 Chubby Checker – Those Private Eyes (Are Watching Me)
7 Chubby Checker – The Twist
8 Chubby Checker – Toot
9 Chubby Checker – The Hucklebuck
10 Chubby Checker – Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On
11 Chubby Checker – Pony Time
12 Chubby Checker – Oh Susannah
13 Chubby Checker – Dance The Mess Around
14 Chubby Checker – Good Good Lovin'
15 Chubby Checker – Let's Twist Again
16 Chubby Checker – Everything's Gonna Be Alright
17 Chubby Checker – The Fly
18 Chubby Checker And His Brothers Spencer & Tracy – That's The Way It Goes
19 Chubby Checker – Twistin' U.S.A.
20 Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell – Jingle Bell Rock
21 Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell – Jingle Bells Imitations
22 Chubby Checker & Dee Dee Sharp – Slow Twistin'
23 Chubby Checker – La Paloma Twist
24 Chubby Checker – The Lose Your Inhibitions Twist
25 Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell – Teach Me To Twist
26 Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell – Swingin' Together
27 Chubby Checker – Dancin' Party
28 Chubby Checker – Gotta Get Myself Together
29 Chubby Checker – Popeye The Hitchhiker
30 Chubby Checker – Limbo Rock
This new Jasmine package brings you all of Chubby's US and UK As and Bs from 1959 to 1962 - his peak years as a chart maker. All performed with the same gusto that made him a household name of the period, and many now considered to be the foundation on which the future Sound Of Philadelphia was built.
Included are Chubby's biggest ever hits plus many tracks that are new to CD - including some rare, early and non-hit singles that have never been reissued before. This 60th anniversary collection marks the first occasion on which all of Chubby's most important hits have appeared in the same place at the same time. It's been a long time since the Twist was the dance floor sensation of the nation, but you're never too young or too old to go round and round and up and down with Chubby Checker! (Jasmine notes)
A few of you eagle-eyed music lovers will have noted there’s a few repeated tracks from the last Jasmine CD issued 8 years earlier. But that's what you get with so many compilations.
You didn't loose your marbles :-) But in a way you lost the plot!
ReplyDeleteHe IS born 3rd october, but your title reads August (In germany they say Du Dummer August)
Thank you for your otherwise spotless, and dearly beloved blog
Thanks Richard. Most of my marbles must have gone on a twisting holiday when I put in the wrong date in the Header. It was probably because I was looking through my August posts prior to showcasing Mr. Checker and for some unexplainable reason my fingers subconciously typed it instead of October. The mind boggles ......now and then.......especially mine!
ReplyDeleteYou my dear BB, are The Keeper of The Vaults. No one compares. The past's music and history you bring forth are epic. So many forgotten artists are raised from their proverbial graves thanks to you. Ernest Evans (Chubby Checker) was so much a part of my childhood back then, allowing me to finally be able to do some kind of dance, lol, and not be so shy to hit the dance floor, haha.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the great work.
Thanks for the Chubby! ; - )
ReplyDeleteAmazingly, continuously overlooked for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Can't understand why.
ReplyDeleteWait, this guy's NOT in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? What Th'... Criminal.
DeleteChubby Checker was highly derivative. The Twist was a straight up copy of Hank Ballard's original. Even his name was a pun on Fats Domino. He's interesting as a popular phenomenon, but he was never a great artist.
DeleteThank you very much, Bob!
ReplyDeleteTwo more:
https://workupload.com/archive/hfP4dgEUjK
Thanks a lot!
ReplyDeletei thank you as always 4 the great music
ReplyDeleteThanks krobi, Two more for the library
ReplyDeleteA few points about Chubby Checker in response to RichS (if I may, Bob):
ReplyDeleteOther than a few impactful artists (e.g. Presley, James Brown, The Beatles) pop music is continuously derivative. A catchy name suggested by Dick Clark’s wife is problematic? Checker charted 35 times (Billboard) not including album sales, more than many other pop artists. A multitude of pop tunes are rerecorded by later artists (e.g. Unchained Melody, Stand By Me) – nothing unusual about that. Far too many Hall of Famer’s from wide-ranging musical genres contributed little to actual rock and roll. And personally, as a professional musician, I loved Chubby’s distinctive voice and Parkway’s great house band. Essentially acoustic instruments recorded in a small space with minimal micing and effects played by great cats. (Buddy Savitt blowing brilliant, compact solos on sax.)
Not a "great artist?" Only a mere handful of artists in any area are considered "great".
RichS? ...is the "S" for Sucks!? Chubby Checker is a Great, a Giant. you are an Ant in comparison.
ReplyDeleteLet me just add to the conversation that Chubby's music set my parents to twistin' back in the early sixties and keeps me twistin' in my 80s! Thanks so much, Bob and Chubby!
ReplyDelete