Chubby Checker upset history is trying to forget him
Following Saturday’s performance at Wheeling’s Capitol Theater, Chubby Checker will be formally inducted into America’s Pop Music Hall of Fame.
Will the plaque finally be a panacea for the artist who has famously been overlooked by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
“Not really,” Checker said during a phone interview. “It doesn’t bother me not to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But I’m the only artist to have five albums in the top 12 simultaneously. That’s 60 songs in the top 12. They don’t recognize that. But awards don’t mean anything. There are a lot of actors sitting in one-room motels just looking at their Oscar because they don’t have a job.
“What tears me apart is that my songs aren’t being played on the radio. The Beach Boys, Frankie Valli, Bob Seger, Elvis Presley are still played on the radio. And none of them has the No. 1 song on the planet.”
Checker was referring to a 2008 Billboard survey that named “The Twist” the No. 1 song in the magazine’s 50-year history.
“Then, in 2013, Billboard said it was the No. 1 song for 55 years in a row,” Checker added. “The next song to be nominated, ‘The Twist,’ will be No. 1 for 105 years.
“Radio stations say I’m a ’50s kid, but that’s not true. ‘The Twist’ was the No. 1 song of the ’60s decade. But then I turn on the radio and hear ‘Twist and Shout,’ but not ‘The Twist.’ What am I going to do about that? I can’t control radio. Other people control it. But I have control of my stage show. And when I hit the stage, something wonderful happens. I don’t know where the energy comes from.”
Indeed, the singer, who was born in 1941, continues to receive rave reviews for his high-energy act, which incorporates many of his 35 charted songs, most of which were dance tunes.
Checker mentions three names when discussing his long career: Dick Clark, Porky Chedwick and Lou Spencer.
Checker recorded a song called “The Class” when he was known as Ernest Evans. Clark used the song for his Christmas card, and it soon became Checker’s first single and a modest hit.
“Well, I wasn’t very much in love with that song, which was mostly impersonations, as it was not cool enough for my persona,” Checker laughed, “although I’ve come to appreciate it. But my next two releases didn’t do anything. Then Dick Clark saw an opportunity with ‘The Twist’ (then a flip side of a Hank Ballard 45 rpm release). That song needed someone with my energy and persona to make it work. Everything Dick Clark had worked. He was a great disc jockey on TV, but he didn’t become a monster hit until Chubby Checker came on. Those two minutes and 42 seconds of me performing ‘The Twist’ changed dance for the entire planet.”
Checker also credited Chedwick, the late Pittsburgh disc jockey, for jump-starting his career by forcing the issue of making “The Twist” the “A” side of the record. “Porky said, ‘I’m playing ‘The Twist,’ not ‘The Toot,'” Checker said. “People respected Porky’s decisions.”
And then there was Spencer, the stage instructor.
“Lou said he would be with me until I got it,” Checker said. “By that he meant he would work with me until I would be like Anthony Newley, Nat King Cole and Perry Como. ‘When your records aren’t played, people will still come to see you,’ Lou said. ‘We are going to use your natural gift of performing and never let it die.'”
Although Checker has been performing steadily since the 1950s, he didn’t realize the lasting impact of “The Twist” the first time it hit No. 1 in 1960.
“I was so happy to have a hit after those two records that didn’t do anything,” he said. “At the time, we had no idea the song would change music and dance forever. But once we had that light bulb in our hands, we were like Thomas Edison. We never let it go. ‘The Twist’ became a permanent fixture in everybody’s house. We established the wheel for all dance music.”
Checker followed “The Twist” with a series of hit dance songs, including “The Hucklebuck,” “The Pony” and ‘The Fly,” after which a 1961 appearance on Clark’s “American Bandstand” prompted a re-release of “The Twist,” which again hit No. 1. Then came more dance tunes, “Limbo Rock,” “Popeye the Hitchhiker,” “Slow Twistin'” and “Birdland” among them. His last chart appearance was in 1988, when he teamed with the Fat Boys for a remake of “The Twist” that hit the Top 20. Checker, though, never stopped recording. Two years ago, he released a ballad called “Changes,” which continues to sell despite scant airplay.
“Not one reporting radio station played it,” said an obviously frustrated Checker. “Paul McCartney was out with a song then, and it got about 800 spins on the radio across the country, even though it didn’t make it. Radio didn’t give me the same opportunity.”
While Checker isn’t happy with radio, he reiterates that he has succeeded without it.
“When we come to a town like Wheeling, we light up the show, burn the place down and go home. People remember our show,” he said.
During the past few years, Checker also has entered the food business because “When you go to a supermarket, about 15 percent of food bears the name twist, so they stole our name. Clothing companies are stealing our name, too. Commercials are using the twist, but not using me to sing it. Everyone wants a piece of the Chub, but they’re not paying me.
“History is trying to forget about me, and I can’t understand why. I’m a nice guy. But we must get our music played. You know, I tried to get the major networks to come up with a special for the 50th anniversary of ‘The Twist,’ but the anniversary just came and went.”
Checker’s voice trails off for a moment, then rebounds.
“I’m really excited about the Wheeling show. I love the other acts, and I’m excited to be with them. I will be very disappointed if there’s an empty seat in the house.”
And even more disappointed, no doubt, if that packed house doesn’t turn into one big dance floor.
Chubby Checker will be featured with Jimmy Beaumont and the Skyliners, Billy Joe Royal, the Legendary Spaniels and the Elegants at 7 p.m. Saturday at Capitol Theater in Wheeling, W.Va. Call 800-514-3849.