Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

Lets Twist Again

by Travis Kelley

Here it is 2008, almost fifty years since Americans did the twist for the first time. Sunday night, August 10th, you’re all invited – young or old – to do the twist with the originator. That’s Right! Chubby Checker is twisting his way into the desert on the 10th of August for two shows at Harrah’s Ak Chin Casino.

The song that spawned a dance craze was originally released in 1959 and went big time by 1960. The Twist not only went number 1 across America, it also introduced a brand new concept – “dancing apart to the beat”. Prior to the Twist, dances involved contact with your partner. The twist changed it all. Partners began to move in sync to the beat without contact. Over the next few years many other songs incorporated the word Twist, such as “Twisting the Night Away”, “Twist and Shout”, and “the Peppermint Twist”. Chubby followed the success of the Twist with a truckload of hits, which included “the Fly”, “the Pony”, and “the Hucklebuck”. During this time each new song brought a brand new dance that incorporated dancing apart to the beat.

“Dancing, apart to music with a beat, is my legacy,” says Chubby.

Chubby Checker and “The Twist” found their way to the big screen and appeared in the films “Don’t Knock the Twist” and “Twist Around the Clock”. Record industry history was made in the fall of 1961 as “The Twist” crept up into the charts and by January of 1962 was number 1 all over again. Combining the 1960 run and the 1961-62 top of the chart spot, “The Twist” spent an amazing nine-month run at number 1!!! Americans of all ages couldn’t get enough of Chubby Checker and “The Twist”. Chubby merchandise was everywhere. There were t-shirts, shoes, ties, dolls, raincoats and chewing gum. The follow up smash “Let’s Twist Again” won Chubby a Grammy™ award for best rock and roll single. Chubby Checker is best credited for getting the adults out on the dance floor and doing “The Twist”.

“What turns me on is to walk into a sold out venue. The audiences are so much the same as they were in the 60’s. It’s just an amazing thing. I can’t explain it, but I hope it never stops,” says Chubby.

Chubby has impacted the modern culture and changed the dance world. Just this year at the Daytona 500, Chubby performed “The Twist”. Chubby Checker is the only artist to have 5 albums in the top 12 all at once. He is the only artist to have the same song at number one twice, “The Twist”. Chubby Checker is the only artist to have 9 double-sided hits. (If you are reading this and too young to remember 45 records, every single was pressed on a 45 record. The hit song was on one side and a lesser-known “b” track on the other side. In Chubby’s case, 9 times both sides became hits.) Most importantly, Chubby Checker changed the way we dance to the beat way back in 1959 with a little hit called “The Twist”.

Get out and see Chubby Checker for the first time. Maybe you have seen him before. Well, get out and see him again! Get out there and enjoy a time of music that was and is pure fun. Whether you know the songs or not, listen and feel the rhythm and you may just catch yourself singing and dancing along. There are no excuses… anyone can twist. In the early 60’s, teenagers twisted, grandparents tried it, parents tried it, and even little kids were doing it. It is no longer the summer of 1960 or 1962 – some of us weren’t even around to enjoy those summers. It is the summer of 2008 and this August10th, for two shows, Chubby is bringing his dance craze hits to the desert at Harrah’s Ak Chin Casino. Let’s twist again, like we did last summer, and the summer before that and the summer before that for almost fifty summers now, “Let’s Twist Again”.

For tickets, go to www.ticketmaster.com.

Travis Kelly is a music lover who serves on the leadership team at Pathway of Hope Foursquare Church. Email Travis at Music@GoodNewsTucson.com.