Hank Ballard, singer and writer of 'The Twist,' dies
Posted on 03/03/2003 2:23:09 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Hank Ballard, singer and writer of 'The Twist,' dies
03/03/2003
LOS ANGELES - Singer and songwriter Hank Ballard, whose hit "The Twist" ushered a nationwide 1960s dance craze, has died.
Ballard, who was suffering from throat cancer, died Sunday at his home, friends said.
Friend and caretaker Anna L. Ayala remembers him for his spirit. "He was just a very good man and loved by so many people," she said.
Ayala said Ballard's birth records indicate he was born in 1927, but biographical information on the Internet and Rock and Roll encyclopedias lists his birth date as 1936.
Ballard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. He was discovered in the early 1950s by writer-producer Johnny Otis. He was lead singer for the Royals, which changed its name to the Midnighters and was signed by Federal Records.
In 1958, Ballard wrote and recorded "The Twist," but it was released on the "B" side of a record.
One year later, Chubby Checker debuted his own version of "The Twist" on Dick Clark's Philadelphia television show. It soon topped the charts, eventually selling over a million copies.
The song launched a dance craze that prompted the creation of other Twist songs, including "Twist and Shout" by the Isley Brothers and "Twistin' the Night Away" by Sam Cooke.
Peppermint Lounge, a defunct club in New York, became the center of the Twist dance craze in the early 1960s.
Ballard's songs were sometimes banned from 1950s radio for their sexually suggestive lyrics.
By the early 1960s, he'd charted 22 singles on the rhythm and blues charts, including "Work with Me Annie" - the biggest R&B hit of 1954, selling more than 1 million copies. The song was part of a well-known trilogy of risque rhythm and blues numbers that included "Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie."
Ballard and the Midnighters didn't suffer from Checker's version of "The Twist." By the mid 1960s, the group 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."
"He was an all-around entertainer. He was dynamite on stage," said friend and business associate Chuck Rubin.
In a 1996 interview with Mai Cramer, who ran a blues radio show, Ballard dubbed music his medicine.
"If you're looking for youth, you're looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock 'n' roll," Ballard said. "It keeps you going. Just like the caffeine in your coffee. Rock 'n' roll is good for the soul, for the well being, for the psyche, for your everything. I love it. I can't even picture being without rock 'n' roll."
He said his first inspiration to be a singer was Gene Autry.
"He had a beautiful voice," Ballard said. "I used to try to emulate him, you know. I had my little toy guns. He was not my favorite fighter, though. He was my favorite singer. He was too handsome to be a fighter."
Ballard, who was born John H. Kendricks in Detroit, Mich., grew up singing in church in Bessemer, Ala. At 15, he moved back to Detroit and set out to form a doo wop group while working on the Ford Motor Company assembly line.
No information was immediately available on survivors.
Services are being arranged by Angelus Funeral Home in Los Angeles.
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