ABOUT
Chubby Checker (b. 1941) is a highly acclaimed and veteran rock & roll singer and dancer who became famous beginning in the early 1960s for starting a worldwide dance craze known as the Twist with his same-named 1960 smash. He also popularized other dances with such hits as "Pony Time" (1961), "The Fly" (1961), and "Limbo Rock" (1962).
Born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chubby Checker began his career in the late 1950s with a zany novelty tune he recorded for Dick Clark, "The Class," in which he parodied several then-popular bands and artists taking turns singing "Mary Had A Little Lamb." This song became his first hit, reaching the Top 40 in 1959. His career took off the following year with his cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' "The Twist" (1960), which remains the only song of the rock & roll era ever to top the charts twice (in 1960 and 1962). This smash was followed by a long string of hits through 1969, many with dance themes. He re-emerged on the charts in 1982 with "Running" and had another hit in 1988 with "The Twist (Yo, Twist!)" (credited to Fat Boys with Chubby Checker). He topped the Billboard's Dance chart many years later in 2008 with "Knock Down The Walls," which also made the Adult Contemporary Top 40.
Chubby Checker's signature song, "The Twist," was named by Billboard in 2008 as the biggest chart hit of all time. He was honored by the Artists Music Guild with the prestigious Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award during a televised AMG Heritage Awards ceremony on November 9, 2013, in which he served as the host.
MERCHANDISE
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- Chubby Checker - CDs, vinyl, & more - Amazon.com
- Chubby Checker - Digital music - Amazon.com
- Chubby Checker - Rare vinyl, CDs, & more - MusicStack.com
- Chubby Checker - Sheet Music - SheetMusicPlus.com
SONGS
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Chubby Checker (With Dee Dee Sharp)
- Slow Twistin' 1962
Chubby Checker
- Birdland 1963
- Dancin' Party 1962
- The Fly 1961
- The Hucklebuck 1960
- Let's Limbo Some More 1963
- Let's Twist Again 1961
- Limbo Rock 1962
(This song also became a hit for the Champs (1962, instrumental version).) - Loddy Lo 1963
- Dance The Mess Around 1961
- Pony Time 1961
(This song topped both the R&B and Pop/Rock charts for Chubby Checker in 1961 and also became a hit for the Goodtimers that same year. "Pony Time" was written by Don Covay and John Berry, and it introduced a (then) new dance style called "The Pony" in which the dancers try to look as if they are riding a horse.) - Popeye The Hitchhiker 1962
- Twenty Miles 1963
- The Twist 1960
("The Twist", which was written by Hank Ballard, topped the charts twice for Chubby Checker (in 1960 and 1962). This song also became a hit for Hank Ballard (1960), Ernie Freeman (1962), and the Fat Boys & Chubby Checker as "Yo, Twist!" (1988).) - Twist It Up 1963
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