Chubby Checker
![]() | This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (July 2016) |
Chubby Checker | |
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![]() Chubby Checker in 2005 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Ernest Evans |
Born | Spring Gully, South Carolina, U.S. | October 3, 1941
Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) |
|
Instruments | Vocals |
Years active | 1958–present |
Labels | |
Website | chubbychecker |
Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll 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". However, his best-known song is the hit "Let's Twist Again", released in the same year; he also popularized in 1962 the song "Limbo Rock", originally a previous year instrumental hit by The Champs to whom he added lyrics, and its trademark Limbo dance, as well as others dance styles such as The Fly. In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained for an August 2013 update of the list.[1]
Early life[]
Ernest Evans, later known as Chubby Checker, was born in Spring Gully, South Carolina.[2] He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans,[3] and two brothers.[4] By age eight, Evans formed a street-corner harmony group, and by the time he entered high school, took piano lessons 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.[5] One of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School was Fabiano Forte, who would become a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s as Fabian.[4]
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,[6] arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. At this recording session Evans got his stage name from Clark's wife, who asked Evans what his name was. "Well," he replied, "my friends call me 'Chubby'." As he had just completed a Fats Domino impression, she smiled and said, "As in Checker?" That little play on words ("chubby" describing a degree of fatness and "checkers" being, like "dominoes," a tabletop game) got an instant laugh, and stuck: from then on, Evans would use the name "Chubby Checker".[7]
Career[]
1950s-1960s[]
In December of 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 Ricky Nelson, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian Forte as 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 #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 become the only single to top the Billboard Hot 100 twice, in two separate chart runs. (Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" had done so on Billboard's earlier chart.)
"The Twist" had previously peaked at #16 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, in the 1959 version recorded by its author, Hank Ballard, whose band The Midnighters first performed the dance on stage. Checker's "Twist", however, was a nationwide smash, aided by his many appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, the Top 10 American Bandstand ranking of the song, and the teenagers on the show who enjoyed dancing the Twist. The song was so ubiquitous that Checker felt that his critics thought that he could only succeed with dance records typecasting him as a dance artist. 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."[8] By 1965 alone, "The Twist" had sold over 15 million copies, and was awarded multiple gold discs by the RIAA.[9]
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 #1 single. Checker's follow-up "twist" single, "Let's Twist Again", won the 1961 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Solo Vocal Performance. A 1962 duet with Dee Dee Sharp, "Slow Twistin'", reached #3 on the national charts. Other substantial hits included "Dancin' Party", "Popeye the Hitchhiker", "Twenty Miles", "Birdland", "Loddy Lo", and a Christmas duet with Bobby Rydell, "Jingle Bell Rock". "Limbo Rock" reached #2 on 22–29 December 1962, becoming Checker's last Top Ten hit. Chubby 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.
1970s–1990s[]
"The Twist" was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records and along with the label's other material, became unavailable after the early 1970s because of the company's internal legal disputes. For decades, almost all compilations of Checker's hits consisted of re-recordings. The 1970s saw him become a staple on the oldies circuit, including a temporary stint as a disco artist. Chubby Checker continued to be a superstar in Europe with television and records.[citation needed] 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. 92 with "Running".[10]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/ChubbyCheckerByPhilKonstantin.jpg/220px-ChubbyCheckerByPhilKonstantin.jpg)
In 1971, Checker at his own insistence recorded a psychedelic album filled with music he felt was "current" that was initially only released in Europe. Originally named Chequered!, it was renamed over the years in subsequent re-releases as New Revelation, The Other Side Of Chubby Checker, and sometimes as Chubby Checker. The songs were all written by Checker and produced by former Jimi Hendrix producer Ed Chalpin,[11] but the studio musicians' names are unknown. The album flopped.[12] Later in the decade, he recorded an album of ”audiophile re-creations” of his greatest hits, for producer Stan Shulman.
In the late 1980s Checker performed at a summer festival in Crestwood, IL, which is now home to the Windy City Thunderbolts. During such festivals audience members were invited onstage to dance briefly (for 10 to 15 seconds) the twist with one of the great musicians in music history. Audience members and their children never forgot the impression made by the legendary genius Chubby Checker.
2000s and beyond[]
Checker had a single at #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. Roger Filgate of Wishbone Ash is featured on lead guitar.
In 2009, Checker recorded a public service announcement (PSA) for the Social Security Administration to help launch a new campaign to promote recent changes in Medicare law.[13] In the PSA, Checker encourages Americans on Medicare to apply for Extra Help, "A new 'twist' in the law makes it easier than ever to save on your prescription drug plan costs."[14][15]
On February 25, 2013, Checker released a new single, the ballad "Changes," via iTunes; it was posted on YouTube and amassed over 160,000 views.[16] "Changes" was produced by the hill & hifi and reached 43 on the Mediabase Top 100 AC Chart and 41 on the Gospel Chart. Checker performed it on July 5, 2013, on NBC's Today show.[17] In 2015, Checker joined forces with Howard Perl Entertainment[18] and Hard Rock Rocksino to produce "Rock and Roll to The Rescue",[19] a show designed to raise funds and adopt rescue animals in need.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Chubby Checker among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[20]
Controversies[]
In 2002, Chubby Checker protested outside of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, over the lack of radio airplay of his hit "The Twist" and his perception that the Hall of Fame had snubbed him. Seymour Stein, president of the Rock Hall's New York chapter and member of the nomination committee, claimed "I think that Chubby is someone who will be considered. He has in certain years."[21]
In 2013, Checker sued HP over a WebOS application with the same name. The application, before being pulled in September 2012, was used to unscientifically estimate penis size from shoe size.[22][23][24][25] The district court said that Checker's trademark claim survived Hewlett-Packard's motion to dismiss, but his other claims were dismissed per Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.[26]
Film and musical depictions[]
![]() | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (April 2019) |
Checker performed as well as appeared as a version of himself in Twist Around the Clock (1961) and Don't Knock the Twist (1962). In both films he provided advice and crucial breaks for the protagonist.
In 1988, he appeared as himself performing alongside the Purple People Eater in the film of the same name.
He later appeared as himself in the 1989 Quantum Leap episode entitled "Good Morning, Peoria" where he walks into a radio station in 1959 hoping to have his demo record played on the air. The show's main character, Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), persuades the station owner to play the song "The Twist", inadvertently teaching Checker himself how to do The Twist.
In 2001, he again guest-starred as himself singing "The Twist" in the fourth season of Ally McBeal.
Awards[]
In 2008, Chubby Checker's "The Twist" was named the biggest chart hit of all time by Billboard magazine. Billboard looked at all singles that made the charts between 1958 and 2008. He was also honored by Settlement Music School as part of the school's centennial celebration and named to the Settlement 100, a list of notable people connected to the school.[27]
Checker received the prestigious Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award on November 9, 2013 from the Artists Music Guild. Checker was the host of the 2013 AMG Heritage Awards and was given the honor during the television broadcast. The award was presented to him by longtime friend and labelmate Dee Dee Sharp.[28]
Personal life[]
On December 12, 1963, at 22 years old, Checker proposed marriage to Catharina Lodders, a 21-year-old Dutch model and Miss World 1962 from Haarlem, the Netherlands.[29] Checker said he met Lodders in Manila the prior January.[30] The song "Loddy Lo" is about her. They were married on April 12, 1964, at Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken, New Jersey.[31] Their first child, Bianca Johanna Evans, was born in a Philadelphia hospital on December 8, 1966.[32]
Checker is also the father of WNBA player Mistie Bass[33] and musician Shan Egan, lead singer of Funk Church, a band in the Philadelphia area.[34]
Singles discography[]
Year | Titles (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated |
Chart positions | Album | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US | US R&B | UK | AU | |||
1958 | "The Class" b/w "Schooldays, Oh, Schooldays" (Non-album track) |
38 | — | — | — | Greatest Hits – 15 Original Hits |
1959 | "Whole Lotta Laughin'" b/w "Samson and Delilah" |
— | — | — | — | Non-album tracks |
"Dancing Dinosaur" b/w "Those Private Eyes" |
— | — | — | — | ||
1960 | "The Twist" b/w "Toot" (from The Chubby Checker Discotheque) |
1 | 2 | 44 | 20 | Twist With Chubby Checker |
"The Hucklebuck" / | 14 | 15 | — | 24 | ||
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" | 42 | — | — | 24 | For Twisters Only | |
1961 | "Pony Time" b/w "Oh, Susannah" (Non-album track) |
1 | 1 | 27 | 8 | It's Pony Time |
"Dance the Mess Around" / | 24 | — | — | 48 | Chubby Checker's Biggest Hits | |
"Good, Good Lovin'" | 43 | — | — | — | ||
"Let's Twist Again" b/w "Everything's Gonna Be All Right" (from Chubby Checker) |
8 | 26 | 2 | 7 | Let's Twist Again | |
"The Fly" b/w "That's the Way It Goes" (Non-album track) |
7 | 11 | — | 35 | For Teen Twisters Only | |
"Jingle Bell Rock" b/w "Jingle Bell Rock Imitations" Both sides with Bobby Rydell |
21 | — | — | — | Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker | |
1962 | "The Twist" / Chart re-entry; the only song of the rock era to reach #1 twice in the US in two different years |
1 | 4 | 14 | 3 | Twist with Chubby Checker |
"Twistin' U.S.A." | 68 | — | — | 41 | ||
"Slow Twistin'" (With Dee Dee Sharp) / | 3 | 3 | 23 | 9 | For Teen Twisters Only | |
"La Paloma Twist" | 72 | — | — | 9 | Twistin' Round the World | |
"Teach Me to Twist" b/w "Swingin' Together" Both sides with Bobby Rydell |
109 | — | — | Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker | ||
"Dancin' Party" b/w "Gotta Get Myself Together" (Non-album track) |
12 | — | 19 | 85 | Chubby Checker's Biggest Hits | |
"Limbo Rock" / | 2 | 3 | 32 | 8 | All the Hits (For Your Dancin' Party) | |
"Popeye the Hitchhiker" | 10 | 13 | — | 8 | ||
"Jingle Bell Rock" b/w "Jingle Bell Imitations" Chart reentry, both sides with Bobby Rydell |
92 | — | 40 | Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker | ||
1963 | "Let's Limbo Some More" / | 20 | 16 | — | 11 | Let's Limbo Some More |
"Twenty Miles" | 15 | 15 | — | 11 | ||
"Birdland" / | 12 | 18 | — | 33 | Beach Party | |
"Black Cloud" | 98 | — | — | 33 | Non-album track | |
"Twist It Up" / | 25 | — | — | Beach Party | ||
"Surf Party" | 55 | — | — | |||
"What Do Ya Say!" b/w "Something to Shout About" Released in UK only |
— | — | 37 | 25 | Non-album tracks | |
"Loddy Lo" / | 12 | 4 | — | 17 | Chubby's Folk Album | |
"Hooka Tooka" | 17 | 20 | — | 17 | ||
1964 | "Hey, Bobba Needle" b/w "Spread Joy" (Non-album track) |
23 | 5 | — | 26 | |
"Rosie" / | 116 | 43 | — | 50 | Non-album track | |
"Lazy Elsie Molly" | 40 | 7 | — | 50 | 18 Golden Hits | |
"She Wants T'Swim" b/w "You Better Believe It Baby" (Non-album track) |
50 | — | — | 98 | The Chubby Checker Discotheque | |
"Lovely, Lovely (Loverly, Loverly) b/w "The Weekend's Here" |
70 | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | |
1965 | "Let's Do the Freddie" b/w "(At The) Discotheque" (Non-album track) |
40 | — | — | — | 18 Golden Hits |
"Everything's Wrong" b/w "Cu Ma La Be-Stay" |
— | — | — | — | Non-album tracks | |
"You Just Don't Know (What You Do To Me) b/w "Two Hearts Make One Love" |
— | — | — | — | ||
1966 | "Hey You! Little Boo-Ga-Loo" b/w "Pussy Cat" |
76 | — | — | — | |
"Looking at Tomorrow" b/w "You Got the Power" |
— | — | — | — | ||
"Karate Monkey" b/w "Her Heart" |
— | — | — | — | ||
1969 | "Back In The U.S.S.R" b/w "Windy Cream" |
82 | — | — | — | |
1973 | "Reggae My Way" b/w "Gypsy" |
— | — | — | 64 | |
1974 | "She's a Bad Woman" b/w "Happiness Is a Girl Like You" |
— | — | — | — | |
1975 | "Let's Twist Again" / "The Twist" Double A-side chart reentry in UK |
— | — | 5 | — | A: "Let's Twist Again" B: "Twist with Chubby Checker" |
1976 | "The Rub" b/w "Move It" |
— | — | — | — | Non-album tracks |
1982 | "Running" b/w "Is Tonight the Night" (Non-album track) |
91 | — | — | — | The Change Has Come |
"Harder Than Diamond" b/w "Your Love" |
104 | — | — | — | ||
1988 | "The Twist" ("Yo, Twist!" version) b/w "The Twist" (Buffapella) Both sides with The Fat Boys |
16 | 40 | 2 | — | Non-album tracks |
2008 | "Knock Down the Walls" #1 US Dance, #29 US AC |
— | — | — | — | All the Best – Knock Down the Walls Featuring eight different mixes |
2013 | "Changes" (Pop version) c/w "Changes" (Alt version) CD single |
— | — | — | — | Non-album tracks |
Citations[]
- ^ "Hot 100 55th Anniversary: The All-Time Top 100 Songs". Billboard.com. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
- ^ Benjamin Franklin V (30 May 2016). An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians. University of South Carolina Press. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-61117-622-3.
- ^ UPI Telephoto (NAP 122601), December 1963)
- ^ Jump up to: a b "The Official Site". ChubbyChecker.com. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Chubby Checker". biography.com. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
- ^ "Interview With Chubby Checker". Classicbands.com. 1961-02-01. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Chubby Checker". Classicbands.com. 1958-11-11. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ Dawson, Jim (1995). The twist: The story of the song and dance that changed the world. Boston, Massachusetts: Faber & Faber. pp. 26. ISBN 9780571198528.
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. 122–3. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100, May 3, 1969". Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- ^ "AllMusic – Ed Chalpin Credits". Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- ^ Demming, Mark. "AllMusic Overview". Retrieved July 8, 2017.
- ^ "Social Security Public Service Announcement". Social Security Administration. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Public Service Announcements for Television". SocialSecurity.gov. Social Security Administration. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ "Social Security Videos". Social Security Administration. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
- ^ "You Tube video". Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- ^ ""Today Show" video – July 5, 2013". Retrieved July 9, 2017.
- ^ Yarborough, Chuck; Dealer, The Plain (2015-01-06). "Chubby Checker adds twist to fundraiser for Geauga's Rescue Village". cleveland. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
- ^ Niesel, Jeff. "Backstage Pass: An Interview with Rock Singer Chubby Checker". Cleveland Scene. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
- ^ Rosen, Jody (June 25, 2019). "Here Are Hundreds More Artists Whose Tapes Were Destroyed in the UMG Fire". The New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2019.
- ^ Mumby Moody, Nekesa (March 16, 2004). "Chubby Checker Stages RockHall Fame Protest". Newsday. Archived from the original on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Gallagher, Sean (2013-02-14). "HP sued by Chubby Checker over webOS penis size app". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Famed Attorney Willie Gary Files Half-Billion Dollar Lawsuit on behalf of Music Legend Chubby Checker against Hewlett Packard and Palm, Inc. for Copyright Infringement". marketwatch.com (Press release). Ft. Pierce, Florida. PR Newswire. Archived from the original on June 2, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2016.
- ^ "'Chubby Checker' lawsuit filed against HP over endowment size estimator". webOS Nation. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Chubby Checker sues HP over app that guesses penis size". TheWeek.co.uk. 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Ernest Evans et al v. Hewlett-Packard Company et al". DigitalCommons.law.scu.edu. Santa Clara University. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ "Settlement Music School : Settlement 100". Smsmusic.org. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-18.
- ^ Checker, Chubby. "Checker receives the 2013 Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award". Artists Music Guild. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
- ^ "Chubby Checker To Wed Beauty". Reading Eagle. UPI. December 12, 1963. p. 46. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
- ^ UPI Telephoto (NAP 1404993…New York Bureau)
- ^ AP Wire Photo 1964
- ^ AP wire photo (jfu 5-2200-jfu-stass) 1966
- ^ "Mistie Bass". Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ "MusicTown: Chubby Checker's Son is a Funk Master". Jumpphilly.com. April 16, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
- ^ "Australian Chart Book 1940–1969". www.austchartbook.com.au. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
Bibliography[]
- Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990, Record Research Inc., P.O. Box 200, Menomonee Falls WI, 1991 (ISBN 0-89820-089-X)
- 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[]
- Official website
- Chubby Checker at IMDb
- The Chubby Checker Show 1963 on YouTube
- Chubby Checker – King Of The Twist – by Dr. Frank Hoffmann
- "Chubby Checker Showcase". Local Music Scene South Carolina.
- Chubby Checker says "There's a New 'Twist' in the Law!" (Social Security Public Service Announcements)
- Interviewed March 22, 2010 on WNYC SoundCheck with John Schaefer; Discusses this Wikipedia entry and career
- 1941 births
- 20th-century American singers
- 20th-century male singers
- 21st-century American singers
- 21st-century male singers
- African-American male singers
- African-American rock singers
- American male singers
- Cameo Records artists
- Grammy Award winners
- Living people
- Musicians from Philadelphia
- People from Georgetown County, South Carolina
- People from Williamsburg County, South Carolina
- Rock and roll musicians
- Singers from Pennsylvania
- Singers from South Carolina
- People named in the Paradise Papers