While Chubby Checker got the credit for The Twist craze, the real inventor of that dance, as well as being one of the founding fathers of rock, was Hank Ballard (1927-2003). Starting in gospel, moving on to doo-wop and eventually Rhythm and Blues, Ballard founded the group The Midnighters which was a major influence on soul and rock, and produced a number of hits that mixed Sunday morning with Saturday night.
The prototype for The Twist came with Ballard’s two double entendre hits, “Work With Me Annie” and “Annie Had A Baby”, possibly released 9 months apart. His gravelly voice worked wonders with the shuffling “Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” and the finger snapping doo wop classic “Finger Poppin’ Time”. A mix of ribald R&B and steamy sax created pieces like “The Hoochi Coochi Coo” and “Annie’s Aunt Fannie” while “Roll, Granny, Roll” was a far cry from Jan and Dean’s “Little Old Lady From Pasadena”. The music was infectious, Ballard was the master of preaching the secular blues, and while his own “The Twist” never caught on, Checker took it, polished it and made a career out of it.
I had a chance to see Ballard back in the 70s at some dingy nightclub. I figured “how good could he still be?”, and stayed home. My friend that went told me I missed the best and sweatiest gig of the year. Don’t miss out on his studio stuff, that works a sweat of its own.