The No1 song in the US on this day, January 13th 1962, was The Twist by Chubby Checker. This was Chubby Checkers third of 3 No1s. It peaked at No14 in the UK. This hit No1 in the US, first in September of 1960, and again after it was re-released in the winter of 1961. It is the only song to hit No1 in the US twice with identical versions. This was written by Hank Ballard, who originally recorded it in 1959 with his group The Midnighters. Ballard got the idea for the song by watching The Midnighters on stage. To Hank they moved onstage like they were trying to put a cigarette out. In a sense, they were twisting. Thus, the title of the song. He tried to get a Twist craze going with their original version of the song, doing the dance at their shows as they toured America (their dance was a little different, with band members lifting a leg to twist). It caught on in Philadelphia and in Baltimore, but was far from a national craze until Chubby Checker covered the song. Ballard knew a deejay in Baltimore named Buddy Deane who had a TV dance show and played the song. The kids reaction was excellent and Buddy recommended the song to Dick Clark, who had his own show in Philadelphia, American Bandstand. Clark who was a media mogul with interests in record labels and artists, went looking for his own artist to break the song. He held auditions, and found a young man named Earnest Evans, a chicken plucker who liked to sing on the job. He was a great impersonator and kept everyone at the chicken plant laughing as hed do his impersonations Fats Domino, Elvis, The Coasters and the Chipmunks. Studio musicians at Cameo-Parkway, along with Evans on vocals, duplicated the Ballard version of The Twist, which they did almost exactly: Same key, same tempo, and Evans sounded just like Hank Ballard. Clark was going to release the record but wanted Ernest to think up a stage name. Clarks wife suggested that he use a take off on Fats Domino: Fats=Chubby, Domino=Checker. Ernest Evans became Chubby Checker, and after performing the song on American Bandstand, it was his version that raced up the charts. The cover was so convincing that when Hank Ballard first heard the song on the radio he thought it was him - They cloned it were Hanks words. Ballard was not bitter toward Checker or Clark when his version was left behind, especially since Ballards record company had no faith in the song. Since he was the songwriter, Ballard earned massive royalties when Checkers version became a huge hit. The same week Chubby Checker hit No1 in the US with this song on September 19th 1960 the original version by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters reached its peak chart position of No28. Checker capitalized on this by releasing Lets Twist Again in 1961 and Slow Twistin in 1962. When the rerelease hit No1 in America on January 13th 1962, it was replaced 2 weeks later with The Peppermint Twist - Pt 1 by Joey Dee And The Starlighters. Chubby went on to release a bunch of other songs with dance themes, including The Mess Around, The Hucklebuck and The Fly. By the end of 1965, Checker had an amazing 22 Top 40 hits in the US. When this was released for the second time in 1961, three of Checkers albums entered the US top 10 at the same time. It was the first time this had been done in the rock era. The Twist was a worldwide phenomenon. Checker recorded versions in Italian, German and French. Heres Chubby Checker performing The Twist on American Bandstand in 1960..... Enjoy!
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 19:59:52 +0000
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