Chubby Checker is best known for his hit song, Twist. The song and dance, known by the same name, was the craze that swept through American like a strong wind in the early 60s. Chubby Checker also, known as Ernest Evans grew up in Philadelphia. His mother took him to go see Sugar Charles Robinson, who inspired him to be an entertainer. So, from then on that was his dream and everything he did centered around that. As a teenager, he learned to play the drums and the piano. In addition, he could do many vocal impressions. His boss at a local supermarket liked what he heard and arranged to have him sing for Dick Clark. Dick Clark had him sing a Christmas tune called The Class, which got such a good response that Cameo-Parkway released the song commercially, and sign him to a deal right away. It just so happened that at one the recording sessions Dick Clark's wife asked him his name and he said his friends call him Chubby as he was impersonating Fats Domino and she jokily replied as in Checkers. After that the name Chubby Checkers stuck. A band called Hank Ballards and the Midnighters first recorded The Twist in November of 1958. It started getting some airplay by the radio d. j. and Dick Clark booked the band on his show. To their detriment they did not show up and Dick Clark suggested someone else record the song. So Chubby Checker name came up and he recorded the song, however, the record executives did not think it would do good so it took 14 months for it to get some real play. Chubby worked hard to promote the album and the dance. But when it caught on it became the dance craze that started it all. Many variations of the dance and song were created. It was number one and stayed that way for sixteen weeks in 1961. Making recording history the song was reintroduced and by January of 1962 it was number one again on the charts. Unlike any other song in history combined with 1961 and 1962 it stayed in the number one spot for nine months. So, Chubby Checker has created an impression on American music scene that will not go away and he is still touring today.