Rare Details About Chubby Checker's Private Life Are Leaving Fans Reeling
To call Chubby Checker a trailblazer would be an understatement. A rock 'n roll legend and iconic innovator, Chubby singlehandedly reshaped both the music world and American pop culture, though there was much more to his meteoric rise to superstardom than just doing "The Twist." Surmounting improbable odds, Chubby made a name for himself as one the industry's greatest performers, though his life behind the scenes was anything but a party.
The Dance Floor Belongs To Chubby
"Alexander Graham Bell brought us the telephone ... Thomas Edison owns the lightbulb ... Now on the dance floor, that belongs to Chubby Checker." It's hard to imagine one man literally changing the way people danced, though, from the start, Chubby knew he was destined to leave his mark on music history.
Best of Both Worlds
"My outlet is my music," he once said, "and it's been this way since I was 4 years old." Born Ernest Evans, the future Chubby Checker got his fill of both southern jazz and northern blues because, as a kid, his family of five traded the heat of Spring Gully, South Carolina, for a new life in the projects of Philadelphia.
Musically Gifted
At age eight, Ernest formed a street-corner harmony group with a few neighborhood friends, and when he reached high school he began taking piano lessons at the local Settlement Music School. Ernest's knack for music was undeniable, though what really blew his peers away was another, more peculiar talent.
Classroom Entertainer
In his downtime, Ernest would entertain his classmates with his dance moves and by performing vocal impressions of popular singers and actors. He could do a killer Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and even Elvis Presley, though his charisma wasn't enough to pull him out of a difficult life just yet.
