Prominent American singer and dancer Chubby Checker was born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina on October 3, 1941. Acclaimed for popularizing many dance styles, his most popular dance style is the Twist dance style. His most regarded hit cover is the 1960 R&B song The Twist, originally by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters. Another of his popular dance styles is the pony dance style that he popularized with the 1961 cover of the song Pony Time. One year later, in 1962, his biggest UK hit, Let’s Twist Again, was released. In the same year, he also popularized the song Limbo Rock, originally an instrumental hit by the Champs. Checker added lyrics to the song and his trademark Limbo dance. Another of his popular dance styles was accompanied by his popular number The Fly. In September 2008, The Twist topped the Billboard’s list of the most popular single that hit the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960. This is an honor that has been maintained in an August 2013 update of the list.
Chubby Checker grew up with his parents and two brothers in the projects of South Philadelphia. His parents were Raymond and Eartle Evans. Checker formed a street-corner harmony group by the age of eleven. He had learned to play the piano a little at Settlement Music School by the time he entered high school. He used to entertain his classmates by performing vocal impressions of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, and Fats Domino, and other popular entertainers of the time. Fabian Forte was one of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School. Fabian later became a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
After school, at his various jobs, Checker used to entertain customers with songs and jokes. He worked at the Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market and at the Produce Market in his town. Anthony Tambone, his boss at the Produce Market, gave Checker the nickname “Chubby”. Very impressed by Checker’s performances for the customers, Henry Colt, the owner of the Fresh Farm Poultry, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, the songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records, arranged for him a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. Clark’s wife Barbara suggested that Chubby be called “Chubby Checker” in homage to Fats Domino, when she heard Chubby’s Fats Domino impression.
Chubby Checker was a star during the early 1960s pre-Beatles era. He was the king of the dance craze fad in the United States. His cover of the Hank Ballard song The Twist was a cultural phenomenon, with twist clubs springing up across the nation. It was a high-octane romp that made people want to get up and dance.
His dance songs were the craze of the time. However, his series of dance songs ultimately stereotyped him and his music. When music began to evolve during the mid-1960s, his popularity waned. In his early ’70s, he continued to tour regularly singing his old hits.
Real Gone Music went back in time to release two of his albums, It’s Pony Time and Let’s Twist Again. The title track, It’s Pony Time, was the only other number one single of his career, besides The Twist. All the songs on the album were connected to a dance. He covered songs such as The Watusi, The Hully Gully, and The Stroll. He even re-imagined The Charleston.
Checker’s rock and roll cover of the Broadway standard, I Could Have Danced All Night and Quarter To Three proved he could take on other material well, when given the chance. Continental Walk, Takes Two to Tango, and The Ray Charles-ton were run-of-the-mill attempts to capitalize on his dance persona.
The music of Chubby Checker is frozen in time. Songs like It’s Pony Time and Let’s Twist Again need to be listened to in their proper perspective. Today his music may seem dated, but a little over 50 years ago, he had the whole country dancing.
In 2002, outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Checker protested over the lack of radio airplay of his hit The Twist. He believed that the Hall of Fame had snubbed him. Checker also sued HP in 2013 over a WebOS application using his name.
Checker appeared as Checker in the films Twist Around the Clock (1961) and Don’t Knock the Twist (1962). He performed alongside the Purple People Eater in 1988 in the film titled the same.
In 1989, Checker appeared in an episode of Quantum Leap titled Good Morning, Peoria. In the fourth season of Ally McBeal in 2001, Checker guest-starred and sang The Twist. He also performed the same track in the tenth season of Murphy Brown.
Checker proposed to the 21-year-old Dutch model and Miss World 1962 from Haarlem, Catharina Lodders, on December 12, 1963. His song Loddy Lo is attributed to her. On April 12, 1964, Catharina Lodders and Chubby Checker got married. On December 8, 1966, their first child, Bianca Johanna Evans, was born. Ilka Evans and musician Shan Egan (Evans), the lead singer of Funk Church, are their other two children. Checker also fathered WNBA player Mistie Bass.
Top Songs
Chubby Checker’s music is characterized by its lightweight dance beats, repetitive chords, and hooks, and his signature singing style. His songs were meant to be enjoyed and some say they haven not aged since 1960s.
Checker’s version of The Twist was a huge hit in 1960 and again in 1962, the only single to reach number one in two different years. The Twist was a huge dance craze in the early 1960s as it ushered in a new type of dancing, where people danced apart, rather than holding hands as partners. Let’s Twist Again is a follow-up to The Twist that was almost as big of a hit. A folk recording from the late 1960s that Checker wrote himself is Hooka Tooka.
The two 1961 top ten hits are Do the Pony and The Fly. Slow Twistin’ is a 1962 duet with Dee Dee Sharp that was a top ten hit. Limbo Rock is a 1962 top ten hit. Popeye the Hitchhiker hit the top ten in the same year. Hey Bobba Needle is Checker’stakeoff on the traditional children’s song Miss Mary Mac.
Awards
In 2008, the Billboard magazine named Checker’s The Twist as the biggest chart hit of all time, considering all singles that made the charts between 1958 and 2008. Settlement Music School named Checker in the Settlement 100 list of notable people who are connected to the school.
On November 9, 2013, the Artists Music Guild conferred Checker the prestigious Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award. Checker was also awarded the 2013 AMG Heritage Awards. Chubby Checker was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2014.