SHORT TAKES : Larry (Big Twist) Nolan, 53, Dies

Larry (Big Twist) Nolan, a mountainous rhythm and blues singer who described himself in a lyric as “300 pounds of heavenly joy,” has died at age 53.

Nolan, whose nickname came from a rumored songwriting credit for the dance-inspiring song “The Twist,” played concerts for two decades throughout the United States and Canada with his band, “Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows.”

He died of heart failure Wednesday after the band returned to their home base here from a weekend gig in Aspen, Colo., said Alligator Records President Bruce Iglauer, who produced two of Nolan’s four albums.

“He was one of the great musical personalities in rhythm and blues,” Iglauer said of the falsetto-voiced singer. “He built this guy, this persona, of a superconfident guy in a white suit. He really was 300 pounds of heavenly joy.”

Nolan, who was born in Terre Haute, Ind., and grew up in southern Illinois, left a wife and seven children.