Song:The Twist
Album:Cameo Parkway: The Greatest Hits
Of course most folks are familiar with the 1960 smash hit The Twist. It's one of the biggest songs ever. But the story of how Ernest Evans became Chubby Checker is very interesting. He was born Oct. 3, 1941 in Philadelphia. He signed with Dick Clark's Cameo Parkway label in 1959 and Clark's wife came up with the name Chubby Checker as a goof on Fats Domino. Checker was known as a musical impressionist and his first single The Class had him doing exactly that. Meanwhile, Hank Ballard had written and recorded The Twist. But Ballard could never convince King Records to promote the record. They didn't like it. But Clark liked it and asked Checker if he could sing like Ballard. The rest is history. Ballard didn't care. He got royalties for writing the song. The Twist became an international dance craze and topped the charts on two seperate occasions. Most of Checker's other music were either Twist related like Let's Twist Again or introduced other dances like the Hucklebuck or the Pony. Checker had 32 chart hits before he faded in 1966. He's toured the oldies circuit ever since and even had a brief disco revival in the 80s on MCA. For years The Twist and other Cameo Parkway recordings weren't available. But ABKCO Records has released all the hits on a box set. There's also a Chubby Checker comp. But I find his music a little thin so I recommend this single CD of Cameo Parkway recordings instead. Here's Chubby Checker performing The Twist on American Bandstand 1960.
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