Chubby Checker

Ernest Evans (popularly known as Chubby Checker) (born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina but grew up in South Philadelphia. October 3, 1941) is a U.S. singer best known for popularizing the dance The Twist with his 1960 song The Twist.

His pseudonym was given to him by the wife of Dick Clark as a play on the name of Fats Domino.

The Twist was so popular that his public often did not allow him to sing any other style of music. He did popularize many dance songs.

Checker later lamented:...in a way, The Twist really ruined my life. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and The Twist just wiped it out. It got so out of proportion. No one ever believes I have talent.

He attended South Philadelphia High School with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. In 1964, he married Catharina Lodders, who had been Miss World in 1962. He is the only artist to have 5 albums in the top 12 all at once. He is the only artist to have a song to be #1 twice - "The Twist". He is the only artist to have 9 Double-Sided Hits. He changed the way we dance to the beat 24/7 since 1959.

He had a number of hits with dance-themed records into the mid-1960s, but changes in public taste ended his hitmaking career in 1965. He spent much of the rest of the 1960s touring and recording in Europe. The 1970s saw him become a staple on the oldies circuit, and having a minor comeback as a disco artist. His last success would be a remake of "The Twist" with rappers, The Fat Boys, in 1986.

His material during his 1960s heyday was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records, and became unavailable after the early 1970s. None of it was available on CD until 2005. (Almost all CD compilations of Checker's hits consist of remakes that he recorded later.)

See Wikipedia, Chubby Checker, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubby_Checker