Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker was the unrivaled king of the rock & roll dance craze; although most of the dances his records promoted -- the Pony, "the Fly," and the Hucklebuck, to cite just three -- have long since faded into obscurity, his most famous hit, "The Twist," remains the yardstick against which all subsequent dancefloor phenomena are measured. Born Ernest Evans on October 3, 1941, in Spring Gulley, South Carolina, he worked in a local poultry shop while in high school, and while on the job often entertained customers by singing and cracking jokes. His workplace antics helped win an audition with the local Cameo-Parkway label, who signed the fledgling singer in 1959; at the suggestion of no less than Dick Clark's wife, the portly youth was re-christened Chubby Checker, the name a sly reference to Fats Domino.
Checker's first single, "The Class," showcased his skills as an impressionist; while the record became a minor novelty hit, none of its immediate follow-ups were successful. In 1960, however, he recorded "The Twist," a cover of a 1958 Hank Ballard & the Midnighters B-side; Checker's rendition de-emphasized the original's overtly sexual overtones, focusing instead on the song's happy-go-lucky charms. The single rocketed to number one during the autumn of 1960, remaining on the charts for four months; some time after it dropped off, it slowly returned to prominence, and in late 1961 it hit number one again; the only record ever to enjoy two stays at the top more than a year apart. After "The Twist" first made Checker a superstar, he returned to the top in 1961 with "Do the Pony"; that same year, he also reached the Top Ten with "Let's Twist Again," which assured the dance's passage from novelty to institution.
In addition to 1961's "The Fly," Checker's other Top Ten hits included three 1962 smashes: "Slow Twistin'," "Limbo Rock," and "Popeye the Hitchhiker." He even starred in a pair of feature films, Twist Around the Clock and Don't Knock the Twist. In total, Checker notched 32 chart hits before the bubble burst in 1966; as interest in dance novelties dwindled, he briefly turned to folk music, and became a regular on the nightclub circuit. From the 1970s onward, he was a staple of oldies revival tours; in 1982, more than a decade after his last studio LP, he signed with MCA and issued the disco-inspired The Change Has Come, scoring a pair of minor hits with the singles "Running" and "Harder Than Diamond." In 1988, Checker returned to the Top 40 for the first time in a quarter century when he appeared on the Fat Boys' rap rendition of "The Twist," and he continued touring regularly throughout the decade to follow.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Discografía
259 álbum(es) • Ordenado por Mejores ventas
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Dancin' Party: The Chubby Checker Collection (1960-1966)
R&B - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records el 19/06/2020
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
Twist With Chubby Checker
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. el 1/01/1960
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
Twistin', Twistin' U.S.A! ~ Singles 1959-1962 (Remastered)
Pop - Editado por RevOla el 30/07/2021
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
Dancin' Party: The Chubby Checker Collection (1960-1966)
R&B - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records el 19/06/2020
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Twist With Chubby Checker
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. el 1/01/1960
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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It's Pony Time/Let's Twist Again
Pop - Editado por ABKCO (US) el 1/01/1961
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Greatest Hits (Rerecorded Version)
Pop/Rock - Editado por K-Tel el 2/02/2022
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo -
Let's Limbo Some More
World music - Editado por TP4 Music el 6/01/2022
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Let's Limbo Some More
Pop - Editado por Cameo Parkway el 6/01/2022
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Twistin' Round The World
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. el 1/01/1962
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Chubby's Folk Album
Pop - Editado por Cameo Parkway el 1/01/1964
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
The Best Of Chubby Checker 1959-1963
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music and Records, Inc. el 18/10/2005
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Chubby Checker Classics
Electrónica - Editado por Teec Recordings el 1/01/1962
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Chubby Checker's Let's Twist Again
Rock - Editado por Charly Records el 21/03/2011
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
Twist With Chubby Checker (Original Album Plus Bonus Tracks)
Pop - Editado por The Twist el 1/01/2012
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
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Hits Of '64
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. el 1/01/1964
Disponible en16-Bit/44.1 kHz Estéreo -
The Twist
Pop - Editado por ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. el 25/09/2020
Disponible en24-Bit/96 kHz Estéreo