Chubby Checker Still Enjoys Twistin' the Night Away

TESUQUE, N.M. — Back in the era of sock hops and soda shops, couples held hands and bopped to the hits of Chuck Berry and Bill Haley.

Then came Chubby Checker.

Four decades ago, the tall, hefty Philadelphia tenor carved out a new niche in pop dancing when he introduced "The Twist" on "The Dick Clark Saturday Night Show."

Over the next several years, he followed it up with "Pony Time," "The Hucklebuck," "The Fly" and "Limbo Rock."

"Dancing apart to the beat--before Chubby Checker--it did not exist," said the 58-year-old Checker, who is touring the country with his band, the Wild Cats.

"Since November 1959, the world has been dancing the style of Chubby Checker," he said. "No other person--Elvis or the Beatles--can make a claim like that."

While at least one popular "dancing apart to the beat" sensation--the Charleston--preceded the twist, Checker certainly has made his mark.

"Chubby Checker was the man who memorialized all of these non-touch type of dances," said Terry Stewart, president of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. "He institutionalized them, popularized them and made people realize how much fun these dances are.

"And he's still doing it today."

Checker debuted "The Twist"--his cover of the song by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters--on Clark's Philadelphia show in August 1960. The following month, the song had topped the charts, eventually selling more than a million copies.

That same year, Checker scored with covers of Tommy Dorsey's 1949 dance hit "The Hucklebuck," Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and his second album, "Twist With Chubby Checker."

"The twist was a huge, popular cultural sensation," said Howard Kramer, associate curator at the rock hall of fame. "And it started a whole new dance craze that included the swim, the jerk, the frug."

Kramer said that following the release of Checker's hit and new dance style, the song "Twist and Shout" scored well on the charts for the Top Notes in 1961, the Isley Brothers in 1962 and the Beatles in 1963.

Checker, born on Oct. 3, 1941, in Andrews, S.C., grew up in Philadelphia. He formed his first group, the Quantrells, while he was a student in high school. In 1958--when he was in 11th grade--he recorded his first song, "The Class," which made a credible showing on the charts. That same year, he changed his name from Ernest Evans to Chubby Checker after Dick Clark's wife noted his resemblance to Fats Domino. He got his big break when--after a recommendation from Clark--he recorded "The Twist" with the Dreamlovers.