Hank Ballard

Singer-songwriter who recorded 'The Twist' before Chubby Checker

John Henry Kendricks (Hank Ballard), singer and songwriter: born Detroit 18 November 1927; died Los Angeles 2 March 2003.

At nearly every party, every wedding reception, every get-together, somebody will play a twist record. Round and round and up and down we go again . . . to the easiest dance of all time, although there is scope for energetic improvisation. The record that started the boom may have been Chubby Checker's "The Twist", but Hank Ballard recorded the original version.

John Henry Kendricks (Hank Ballard) was born in Detroit in 1927, although he never knew his full name until the US Army requested a sight of his birth certificate, and 1936 is his year of birth in all the books. His father, a truck driver, died when he was seven and he was raised by relations in Bessemer, Alabama. They frowned upon blues music and, as he did not like the strict, religious upbringing, he left as soon as he could, working on the assembly line of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit when he was 15. He later commented, "I have about 10,000 relatives, but the way I figure it, you're responsible for your own ass." His cousin Florence Ballard was a founder member of the Supremes.

The Detroit group the Royals had recorded "Every Beat of My Heart" and, when their lead singer, Lawson Smith, was drafted, Hank Ballard was invited to step in. He wrote their first rhythm-and-blues hit, "Get It" (1953). Their success led to confusion with another group, the Five Royales, so they became first the Midnighters and then Hank Ballard and the Midnighters. Ballard developed a very entertaining show band and his influence on James Brown and the Famous Flames, who also recorded for King Records, has been acknowledged by Brown himself.

"Sixty Minute Man" had been a surprise pop hit for another group, the Dominoes, because the song was so salacious. Hank Ballard was inspired by the Dominoes' success and he wrote a song, "Let's Get It While the Getting's Good", although he was to hone it to "Work With Me, Annie" (1954). "Work" was Detroit slang for "sex" and the lyric went, "Annie, please don't cheat, Give me all of my meat."

"Work With Me, Annie" topped the R&B charts and was also a pop hit, spawning a continuation of the saga with "Annie Had a Baby", "Annie Kicked the Bucket" and, unbelievably, "Annie's Aunt Fannie". Etta James recorded "Roll with Me, Henry", which Georgia Gibbs covered for the white market as "Dance with Me, Henry".

The origins of "The Twist" are clouded in mystery, but it would appear that Ballard's magpie mind was at work again. The song probably has its origins in a little-known gospel tune, but the Drifters' "Whatcha Gonna Do" (1955) is the obvious template for "The Twist". Ballard first of all wrote and recorded "Is Your Love for Real" and then changed it to an exhortation to dance – "C'mon baby, let's do the twist, C'mon baby, it goes like this" – and those simple lyrics changed popular culture.

In 1959 Hank Ballard and the Midnighters made the US pop charts with "Teardrops on My Letter", a superb tearjerker, but disc-jockeys started playing the B-side, "The Twist". He was invited to perform – or mime to – the record on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. Ballard wanted to include the Midnighters and demanded additional payment, but Clark couldn't see the sense of this. He asked Danny and the Juniors to cover the song instead and, when they did not act immediately, he passed the song to the up-and-coming Chubby Checker. Checker copied Ballard's vocal and invented the dance although, once again, there are conflicting stories.

Ballard was very surprised to hear the record on a mainstream radio station: "At first I thought it was me," he said, "but then I couldn't hear any drive in the voice and the track was weak." Weak or not, Checker's record topped the US charts, but Ballard's original was not totally overlooked as it made the Top Thirty.

The twist became the nation's favourite dance and a stream of variations followed such as the Fly, the Dog, the Locomotion and the Mashed Potato. Ballard himself recorded a stream of dance tunes and found himself on the US pop charts with "Finger Poppin' Time" (No 7, 1960), "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" (6, 1960), "The Hoochi Coochi Coo" (23, 1961), "The Continental Walk" (33, 1961) and "The Switch-A-Roo" (26, 1961).

Ballard disbanded the Midnighters in 1962 and recorded with James Brown's band the following year. From time to time he worked with Brown, but he foolishly sold his songwriting rights to a record industry mogul, Morris Levy, for $5,000. The contract was later declared unlawful, and Ballard reclaimed his rights. He benefited directly from "The Twist (Yo, Twist)", an international hit for the Fat Boys and Chubby Checker in 1988.

In 1986 Hank Ballard was working again with the Midnighters and made his first UK appearance at Hammersmith Palais. This led to the highly exuberant double-album Hank Ballad Live at the Palais (1987).

Spencer Leigh