Chubby Checker is the king of twist

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The hero of this article is Chubby Checker, singer, songwriter and dancer. In the early sixties, when Elvis Presley stopped recording new songs due to his military service, this artist instead became the real king of rock and roll, more precisely, its softer version - the twist.

Youth

Ernest Evans - that was the name of the future singer's parents. He grew up in South Philadelphia. From childhood, the boy fell in love with music and was keenly interested in all its novelties. At the age of 8, he organized his first ensemble, which performed on the streets, performing polyphonic compositions.

Studying at school, Chubby Checker entertained his classmates with vocal improvisations on the themes of popular hits of the time. One of his school friends, Fabian Forte, also became a popular singer, whose career peaked in the late fifties and early sixties.

Nickname

After leaving school, Evans got a job in a record store, where he also never missed an opportunity to sing his favorite songs. Many visited this institution only for the sake of his impromptu performances, which, moreover, were accompanied by the sparkling jokes of the youngartist. The store manager gave him the nickname Chubby, which means "fat". Another acquaintance was so impressed with his vocal abilities that he arranged for him to perform on a popular TV show at the time.

It was on the recording of this program that Evans got his stage name. The radio host's wife then asked what his name was. "My friends call me Fatty," he replied cheerfully. Since he then strongly resembled another large singer, Fats Domino (Fat Domino), the girl immediately came up with a funny nickname for him Chubby Checker (Checkers Fat). the singer began to use this pseudonym.

First hit

Chubby Checker was asked by host Dick Clark to record a joke song for the show's Christmas special. The composition was called Class. It describes a class made up of naughty students such as Fats Domino, Elvis Presley and others. Chubby sang the children's joke song "Mary has a little lamb" with the voices of these stars.

Clark liked this parody so much that he sent the tape to his friend, a big producer. He listened to the record and immediately offered the performer to sign a contract with him. The song "Class" was released as a single in 1959 and reached high positions in the American charts.

Twist

In 1962, the 18-year-old performer recorded his own version of the song "Twist" from Hank Ballard's repertoire. The single became the greatest hit, hitting the Billboard magazine charts twice (in different categories). Beforeonly Bing Crosby managed to achieve this with the song White Christmas. With this song, Chubby Checker performed on The Dick Clark Show. Performing it, he went on stage accompanied by a group of teenagers who danced the twist, which became popular thanks to the singer.

Chubby Checker's next big hit was another composition in the same style. The song Let`s Twist Again brought him a Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Performance.

By the mid-sixties, the twist had gone out of fashion, so Chubby Checker's new songs were no longer as popular as his earlier works. But the artist still toured a lot. In Europe, his concerts were always sold out.

In 1971, the singer made an attempt to record an album in an unusual style for him. Chubby Checker's album Checkered consisted of psychedelic rock songs.

All songs were written by the artist himself. Chubby worked with former producer Jimi Hendrix on this disc.

Repeated triumph

In the late 2000s there was a triumphant return of Chubby Checker to the American charts. In 2007, he released a single titled Knock Down The Walls which reached 1 on the Billboard magazine chart. Wishbone Ash guitarist Roger Filgate featured on this track.

In 2009, Chubby Checker (photo in the article) participates in the recording of social advertising.

In 2013, a new work of the singer appeared. This time it was the melodic ballad Changes.