ARCHIVES: Chubby Checker talks 50 years of ‘The Twist’ and turns in his career before Mt. Pocono show
In 1960, Chubby Checker released a song called “The Twist” that changed the face of music forever, starting a dance craze that still exists in many forms to this day.
50 years later, the man is still twisting and looking forward to tearing up the dance floor of Gypsies Lounge & Nightclub at Mount Airy Casino Resort on Saturday, Nov. 27 at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Born Ernest Evans, he received the nickname “Chubby” from his boss at a produce market. Showing a talent for music and impersonations when he was young, he received the rest of his stage name during a private recording session of “American Bandstand,” the popular television variety show, after doing an impression of Fats Domino. Host Dick Clark’s wife made a joke, comparing his name to Fats’ and asking if his last name was “Checker,” another name for a domino piece. The name stuck and would soon be known nationwide when he popularized Hank Ballard’s hit “The Twist” in 1960, adding his own unique voice to a song that was only moderately popular before he recorded it.
“I always noticed when I was a kid that white guys always like to sing like black guys. … So what I did to get my sound was imitated them imitating us! That’s how I got my sound. I was 12 years old when I figured that out,” Checker recalled.
The song would go on to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960, then top the chart again in 1962, becoming the only single to top the Billboard Hot 100 twice in two separate runs by the same artist. In 2008, “The Twist” was named the biggest chart hit of all time by Billboard magazine, but Checker believes that the dance that accompanied the track is what truly solidified his legacy.
“‘The Twist’ being the No. 1 song in the world as of Sept. 11, 2008 tells us that the way we dance is because of the song,” he said.
“That’s the biggest thing in the music industry, the day that it happened, and it still is the biggest thing in the music industry because if you’re dancing to anybody and their song has a beat, what do they do? They dance apart to the beat. Before Chubby Checker, that wasn’t here.
“We solidified it with ‘The Pony,’ and ‘The Fly,’ and ‘The Shake,’ and ‘The Hucklebuck.’ All these are the dances that they do, and they mix them all up, dancing that style 24/7 since Chubby Checker did ‘The Twist.’” he continued.
“What we bring to the music industry, we’re still bringing it. What happened when we came along is still happening. We’re celebrating 50 years of the way we dance on the dance floor. ‘The Twist’ is just one of them.”
Checker has had over 20 hit songs during his career, many with their own dance moves. He is the only artist to have five albums in the Top 12 all at once, the only artist to have nine double-sided hits, and he received the first-ever platinum record for “Let’s Twist Again,” which was also the first rock ‘n’ roll song to receive a Grammy Award.
Despite his numerous accomplishments, the 69-year-old has yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, an injustice that he has openly criticized over the years. Even more important to him, though, is the lack of airplay his music receives, another area in which he feels he has been slighted.
“I think that if I got airplay like the other greats got, I don’t know where I would be, because the only difference between me and the greats is that they get airplay and I don’t. If I got the play that some of these guys got that have been around for 30 years or more, like Neil Young and those guys, I’d sell out every night, every show. There’d be 20,000 people coming to see my shows every day.”
Regardless of the importance of “The Twist” in rock n’ roll history, Checker admits that it’s the simplicity of the song that made it so popular over the last five decades.
“It’s stupid. A child can do it, and a grown-up can do it. It’s like bread and butter. You don’t have to be genius to spread it on the bread and eat it. My career and my show are very much like that. I know to keep it simple,” he noted with a laugh, adding that his songs being regularly played at weddings and bar mitzvahs “keep me alive.”
He believes “The Twist” has even led to a boon in the health industry.
“Exercising to music did not even happen until someone said, ‘Hey, ‘The Twist’ is great. Let’s exercise to this,’ and then an industry began called aerobic exercises. If you go on the Internet and look up the word ‘twist,’ there are over 11 million patents on ‘The Twist?'”
Looking at the sheer number of patents, he wouldn’t mind receiving a little credit for that too.
“Every time you pay yourself for ‘The Twist,’ you pay your family and you pay your bills – don’t forget to pay the Chub!”
Despite these setbacks, he still enjoys performing live with his band The Wildcats, which he says one has to see to believe. He remembers playing at the resort when it was still the Mount Airy Lodge and is looking forward to his return.
“I’m bringing all my frustrations to the Lodge on the 27th. I’m going to blow the place up. We’re going to have a great time. It’s going to be fun.”
Chubby Checker & The Wildcats
Location: Gypsies Lounge & Nightclub at Mt. Airy Casino Resort (312 Woodland Rd., Mt. Pocono)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 27
Time: 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Cost: $35-$50
