Happy Birthday Ernest Evans … Mr. Chubby Checker … still Twistin’ to this day! It was years ago that I first met and worked with Chubby Checker. At the time I was working a lot with my radio mentor, Porky Chedwick … I mentioned to Porky that I was doing a show with Chubby Checker and Porky asked if he could come to the show as my guest … after all Porky played a role in putting the Twist on the Rock and Roll map with the first and original version written and recorded by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters and then again with Chubby Checker. Chubby’s version of the Twist was a hit in 1960 and then a hit again in 1962 … the Twist was the only song to hit the number One position in different years. Porky and I were invited to Chubby’s tour bus … I was like a fly on the wall watching two Icons talk about the good old days. Chubby began singing on the street corner at the early age of eleven and entertained his classmates performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino … a few of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School were Fabian Forte and Len Barry. In fact, Chubby recorded an early record for Cameo-Parkway in 1959, playing the role of a music teacher who asks his class for their homework, which are variations of “Mary Had A Little Lamb”. The musicians imitated by Chubby are Fats Domino, the Coasters, Elvis Presley, Cozy Cole and the Chipmunks referring to them as Ricky, Frankie and Fabian. in 1961Chubby starred in a Rock n’ Roll Classic Movie … “Twist Around the Clock” and my childhood friends, the Marcels, made a cameo appearance singing “Merry Twistmas”. I recently saw an ad for a show that had Chubby Checker as the Headliner … yep … Ernest Evans. Chubby Checker is still “TWISTIN” to this day!