Checker's follow-up 'twist' single, ' Let's Twist Again', won the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording. ĭespite 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. 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. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and 'The Twist' just wiped it out . in a way, 'The Twist' really ruined my life. 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'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. 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. ' The Twist' had previously peaked at No. ( Bing Crosby's ' White Christmas' had also achieved number one twice on Billboard 's earlier chart.) 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 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. Ĭhecker introduced his version of 'The Twist' at the age of 18 in July 1960 in Wildwood, New Jersey at the Rainbow Club. Titled ' The Class', the single became Checker's first release, charting at No. Clark sent the song out as his Christmas greeting, and it received such good response that Cameo-Parkway signed Checker to a recording contract.

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'. 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. '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'. At this recording session Evans got his stage name from Clark's wife, who asked Evans what his name was. 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. It was his boss at the Produce Market, 'Tony A.', who gave Evans the nickname 'Chubby'. Īfter 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. 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. He entertained his classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. By the time he entered high school, Ernest had learned to play the piano a little at Settlement Music School. By age eleven, Evans formed a street-corner harmony group. He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans, and two brothers. Checker was born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina.

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