Maricopans get a chance to twist again

Earnest Evans is coming to Maricopa.

Who?

Earnest Evans is better known as Chubby Checker.

Evans took on the name Chubby when he was just a teenager. “My manager told me: you are not Earnest no more, you are Chubby,” Evans said.

However, the Checker wouldn’t come until a few years later.

“I met Dick Clark and his wife, and she recommended I put the Checker behind the Chubby,” Evans said. Since then he has only been known as Chubby Checker.

“The only person that calls me Earnest is the IRS.” Checker said. “Being Chubby is what made me famous, and it is who I am.”

However, it isn’t his name most people remember but his 1959 hit song “The Twist.”

Hank Ballard wrote the song, but Evans revised it and took it from the bottom of the Billboard chart to number one.

“It took us a lot of hard work to make that song into a number one hit,” Checker said.

Since its release it is still one of only two songs to be first on the Billboard Top 100 on two separate occasions.

“We have done things in the music industry that no one has ever done,” Checker said.

Checker’s music career started at a young age. The musician was in a quartet when he was only 14 years old and released “The Twist” when he was in the 11th grade.

The musician has literally been on the road since 1959. “I love music and performing, and I never want to retire,” Checker said.

Checker added that he views retirement as waking up, eating, watching television, eating again, playing some golf, going to see the grandkids and then eating some more.

“Eight months after doing that daily routine, you are 80 pounds heavier and dead,” Checker said.

After nearly 50 years in the music industry there is only one regret Checker has. “I didn’t get enough playtime,” Checker said. By playtime he means that those in charge of the radio play lists didn’t air his music enough.

“I guess I’m just too brown and beautiful.” Checker said, “They were afraid of how successful I would of become.”

Besides doing music Checker has a foot in the snack industry. He has a full line of snack products available through his Web site: www.chubbychecker.com.

This trip to Maricopa is not the first one for Checker; he came to the city nearly four years ago to perform.

“There was so much traffic coming into the show they had to close the road down,” Checker said.

For those interested in twisting, Evans will be performing two shows at Harrah’s Ak-Chin Resort and Casino on Aug. 10, with one starting at 2 p.m. and the other at 6 p.m.

Tickets to the 21 and older event are $27.50.

To purchase tickets visit akchin.frontgatetickets.com or call (888) 512-SHOW.

Submitted photo