Chubby Checker, an American rock and roll singer and dancer, has been delighting audiences for 80 years with his distinctive ability.
He is well-known for popularizing dance forms like the Twist and the Pony, as well as for hit tunes like “Let’s Twist Again.”
Checker, born in 1941 in South Carolina and reared in the South Philadelphia projects, quickly discovered that his ability to imitate people was one of his best strengths. By high school, he was amusing his peers with impersonations of Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
In 1959, Checker signed with Cameo-Parkway Records, and music executives persuaded him to record his version of “The Twist,” which Hank Ballard had originally written and sung.
This week, @chubby_checker’s #1 hit “The Twist” is at #8 on the charts’ top ten. It is currently the sixth-longest top-ten song in history, as well as the oldest song to reach that milestone.
pic.twitter.com/qYorntVH7z
When Checker published his version, which included a dance routine, the song became an instant success. “The Twist” was a groundbreaking dance style because it allowed couples to separate on the dance floor.
Since then, he has had 34 successes, including the first rock-and-roll song to get a Grammy.
He has also been happily married to former beauty queen Catharina Lodders for 57 years, a partnership that has overcome several challenges.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came into effect the same year the pair married. The legislation removed limits on African-American voting rights and reduced segregation in the army, school, and fundamental public services, but interracial marriage laws remained in place.
Three years after their marriage, they removed this prohibition.
He told Philadelphia Magazine in 2015 that when people found out he was marrying a white lady, he remarked, “I didn’t mind. “Love lacks coloring in it.”
Despite this massive impediment, the pair married at Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken, New Jersey. At the age of 22, the pair tied the knot. Rev. George L. Garver performed their wedding ceremony without mentioning the couple’s interracial marriage.
A few months after their wedding, Jet Magazine interviewed Checker and his wife to see how married life was treating them, and they were the image of happiness.
Twist icon Chubby Checker and his bride-to-be, Catharina Lodders of Haarlem, Holland, who was Miss World in 1963, kiss after the 22-year-old millionaire gave the 21-year-old beauty an engagement ring on December 12th. (Getty)
Checker stated that he loved his marriage and believed it would succeed with Lodders, regardless of the circumstances.
Checker also stated that his wife was aware of the racial issues in America but did not care. He stated that they got along well and had a wonderful time together because they shared a similar perspective on life.
Checkers first met Lodders in Manila in January 1962, and he proposed to her at his parents’ house in December 1963, barely one month after her reign as Miss World ended.
“@angil_55: Thurston Hopkins/Twist hero Chubby Checker with his soon-to-be bride, Catharina Lodders, in 1963″ twitter.com/xrc1HL5Wb1”
— Elisabetta Pozzetto (@DONNEDIPROFILO), April 29, 2014.
The Dutch model created history in 1962, when she won the Miss World Beauty Pageant in London at the age of 20. She had previously won Miss Holland in the same year.
During the early months of their marriage, Checker and Lodders suffered discrimination when they attempted to purchase a new home in Philadelphia, but they were undeterred and purchased a house outside Philadelphia in 1965, where they still live today.
Their love and understanding have sustained their marriage for the past 57 years, producing three accomplished children: Bianca Johanna Evans, WNBA star Mistie Bass, and singer Shan Egan. There are seven grandchildren.
The Herald-Tribune reported in 2016 that Checker and Lodders went to see their former pastor, Garver, who conducted their wedding on his 100th birthday.