Hank Ballard, 66; Found the B-Side of Fame in Writing, Recording '60's Hit Tune 'The Twist'

LOS ANGELES TIMES ^ | 4/4/2003 | Geoff Boucher

[kellynla]

Hank Ballard, the R&B star who wrote and recorded "The Twist" with little success and watched a year later as Chubby Checker used the song to teach the world a new dance, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. Ballard, who had been suffering from throat cancer, was 66.

[kellynla]

Ballard started it all. The Twist was the first time people danced apart...and the rest is history. RIP Hank...

[Sabertooth]

Thanks for posting this. May Hank rest in peace, he's one of the unsung founders.

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[kellynla]

You're welcome and if you're a fan like I am you might appreciate: "Get It" ('53 #6 R&B)
"Work With Me Annie" ('54 #1 R&B, #22 Pop)
"Sexy Ways" ('54 #2 R&B)
"Annie Had A Baby" ('54 #1 R&B, #23 Pop)
"Teardrops On Your Letter" ('59 #4 R&B)
"Finger Popin' Time" ('60 #2 R&B, #7 Pop)
"The Twist ('60 #6 R&B, #28 Pop)
"Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" ('60 #1 R&B, #6 Pop)
"The Hoochie Coochie Coo" ('61 #3 R&B, #27 Pop)
"The Switch-A-Roo" ('61 #3 R&B, #26 Pop)

[kellynla]

Ballard and th Midnighters had a rich history. Here's a brief biography. The Midnighters began their career as the Royals. Organized in late 1950 or early '51 by Henry Booth and Charles Sutton, the original lineup is said to have also included Levi Stubbs (later of he Four Tops) and Jackie Wilson. By 1952, when bandleader Johnny Otis discovered the group at the Paradise Theater in Detroit and recommended it to Federal Records producer Ralph Bass, the personnel comprised of lead singers Booth and Sutton, harmony vocalists Lawson Smith and Sonny Woods, and guitarist Alonzo Tucker. Booth led the Royals' first waxing, the Otis doo wopp composition "Every Beat of My Heart" (later a smash for Gladys Knight and the Pips).

The Royals' initial style was smooth, owing much to Sonny Til and the Orioles. It changed radically when Hank Ballard, who'd grown up singing in church in Bessemer, Alabama, replaced Smith in 1953. Inspired by the Dominoes' Clyde McPhatter, the 16 year-old former Ford assembly line worker became lead singer, bringing to the group a hard gospel edge and a suitcase full of rhythm-charged, frequently raunchy songs, beginning with 1953's "Get It".

As "Work With Me Annie" was gaining momentum in early 1954, the Royals changed their name to the Midnighters to avoid confusion with the Five Royals, another hard, gospel-styled R&B group. "Annie" and its answers kept the Midnighters going strong for a year and a half, after which they experienced a respite from the charts that lasted three and a half years. Personnel fluctuated during this period, with Smith returning to replace Sutton, Norman Thrasher replacing Woods, and guitarist Cal Green replacing Arthur Porter, who'd earlier taken Tucker's place. Federal Records seemed to be placing its faith in a new group, James Brown and the Famous Flames, which modeled its torrid style, to a great degree, on that of the Midnighters.

In 1958, Ballard wrote "The Twist", an up tempo 12 bar blues that used a melody line he'd lifted from the group's flop of the previous year, "Is Your Love For Real?" which he had in turn borrowed from McPhatter and the Drifter's 1955 hit "What 'Cha Gonna Do?" Unhappy at Federal, Ballard took the new tune to Vee-Jay, which cut it but didn't release it. Then King, Federal's parent label, picked up the group's option and recorded "The Twist", the first record to place Ballard's name on the label in front of the group's. It was issued, however, as the B side of the gospel-drenched Ballard ballad "Teardrops On Your Letter".

While "Teardrops" rose to number four on the R&B chart with minimal pop response, the flip also generated some action, peaking at number 16 R&B during its initial round on the charts. "American Bandstand" host Dick Clark was so enamored of the tune that he had Ernest Evans rerecorded it. Debbed "Chubby Checker" by Clark's wife, the Philadelphia singer took "The Twist" to the top of the pop chart twice, in 1960 and again two years later. Checker's version was so close to the original that Ballard, upon first hearing it on the radio, thought it was his own.

Rather than being set back by the cover, Ballard and the Midnighters benefited. By the middle of 1960, they had three simultaneous hits in the pop top 40: "Finger Poppin' Time", "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go", and their original version of "The Twist." And Ballard came up with other dance-oriented hits for the group, including "The Hoochie Coochi Coo", "The Continental Walk", "The Float", and "The Switch-A-Roo", but chart action dried up after 1961 and group members began to defect.

By the late '60's, Ballard was working as a single, often with James Brown's revue, and he had two minor Brown-produced R&B hits: 1968's "How You Gonna Get Respect (If You Haven't Cut Your Process Yet?" and 1972's "From the Love Side." After a long hiatus from performing, the singer returned in the mid-80's with a new set of Midnighters, first female, then male. In 1990, Ballard was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

[CIBvet]

Thanks for the history.

[weegee]

Hank also wrote/sang "Tore Up" which has become a rockabilly standard performed by Sleepy LaBeef and others and "Look At Little Sister" which Stevie Ray Vaughn covered.

[weegee]

I saw Hank Ballard perform in 1990 or 1991 around Halloween. He did a great show of his own material, anytime the band padded out the set with songs that they thought the crowd would be more apt to know, Hank stepped aside, let his backup singers do the cover while he danced.

[Michael.SF.]

In 1958, Ballard wrote "The Twist", an up tempo 12 bar blues that used a melody line he'd lifted from the group's flop of the previous year, "Is Your Love For Real?"

My personal favorite Hank Ballard story was when the McDonalds's Corp. was sued for using 'the twist' in one of their commercials. They were sued by Chubby Checker because he had not been paid royalties. I think this was back in the late 70's maybe earlier 80's.

Checker claimed that since he made the song famous that he deserved the royalties. But McDonald's had in fact paid Mr. Hank Ballard. Chubby lost.

Think I will go and dig out my 45 rpm's and listen to:

Finger Poppin, Poppin time. Oh,it feels so good, to have a real good time.

RIP, Mr. Ballard

[Ann Archy]

The story I was told, by Hank himself, was that he was booked on American Bandstand to sing The Twist, but was in a hotel, with a chick, and didn't make it in time to the show....Chubby Checker lip-synced Hank's song and then went on to record his own version right away.

Don't know if this version is true or if he was puling my leg.

One o the Midnighters stuttered terribly when he talked but never when he sang...weird.

RIP..Hank.

[Michael.SF.]

Chubby Checker lip-synced Hank's song and then went on to record his own version right away.

Not sure of the veracity of the story, but it reminds me of another Hank Ballard story:

On a sales trip with my boss (who was always a bit of a know-it-all) we were in the car when 'the Twist' was playing on the radio. he cranked up the volume and started singing along. He then commented:

I always loved Chubby Checker, This is great"

I listened a bit closer, then said: "This isn't Chubby Checker, it's Hank Ballard."

He laughed: Hank who?

A discussion ensued, a bet followed. Dinner that night loser pays, winner picks.

I won.

The two versions were remarkably close, but I could always pick out the original.

[Ann Archy]

I have NEVER heard the Hank Ballard version!!! Maybe I'll look for it.

I really didn't think he was kidding me at the time, and a third person was nodding at the telling, so I took it as the truth. Only Dick Clark would remember!!! Calling Dick!!

[weegee]

The way I heard it, Dick Clark didn't want to promote anything by Hank Ballard, who had made a name for himself with some risque rock and roll songs. When Hank Ballard's "The Twist" first came out, Mr. Clark dismissed it as another of those dirty songs from Hank.

Chuck Berry's version came out a bit later but was so close in sound to the original that even Hank Ballard was fooled at first when he heard it.

I've got a book on the Twist and there is a documentary too. I haven't read the book yet and never saw the film.