We're celebrating WAKY'S 50th Anniversary by giving you Chubby Checker Concert Tickets. Catch Chubby at Belterra Casino Resort Saturday, May24th. Keep listening to win tickets from 103.5 WAKY!!!

Chubby Checker is the stage name of Ernest Evans (born October 3, 1941), an American Rock and Roll singer-songwriter best known for popularizing the dance The Twist with his 1960 song "The Twist".

He was born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina,[1] and raised in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended south Philadelphia High School with Frankie Avalon and Fabian. The wife of American Bandstand's host Dick Clark suggested the name "Chubby Checker" to Evans as a take-off on then-popular singer Fats Domino. In 1964, he married the Dutch Catharina Lodders, who was Miss Universe in 1962. He "performed" "The Twist" at the 2008 Daytona 500."The Twist" (which had previously been a minor rhythm and blues hit for its author, Hank Ballard) 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 is the only recording artist to have five albums in the Top 12 all at once. He is hailed by many to have changed the way we dance to the beat of music since 1959.[citation needed] Sixties TV personality Clay Cole affirms, "Chubby Checker has never been properly acknowledged for one major contribution to pop culture – Chubby and the Twist got adults out and onto the dance floor for the very first time. Before the Twist dance phenomenon, grownups did not dance to teenage music." In addition, his recording of "Let's Twist Again (Like We Did Last Summer)" rewarded Chubby with the 1961 Grammy Award as “the best rock ‘n’ roll single.” Checker introduced The Twist in July, 1960 on The Clay Cole Show televised live from Palisades Amusement Park.

Checker 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.

information from wikipedia.org