Everything but Respect

With nonchalant matter-of-factness, Chubby Checker says: “It’s probably the most important song of the 20th century.”

He is referring, of course, to “The Twist,” the beloved rock ‘n’ roll song he took to the top of the singles charts in 1960 and again in early 1962--the only rock song ever to reenter the charts and return to No. 1.

“The Twist” ignited a nationwide dance craze. In the early 1960s, everyone from teenagers to actress Zsa Zsa Gabor performed the galvanic dance, whose motions Checker likens to “putting out a cigarette with both feet while wiping off your bottom with a towel.”

The second time the song reached the top of the charts, the South Carolina-born singer was invited to the Kennedy White House to show the first family how to twist.

Checker--who performs a New Year’s Eve concert Thursday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts with his band the Wildcats--isn’t modest. He compares the social impact of “The Twist” to the advent of the lightbulb, the telephone and the V-8 engine.

At the very least, it brought to rock ‘n’ roll the first dance it could call its own.

“That song gave us dancing apart to the beat of the music for the first time,” he said. “In 1959, I went on ‘American Bandstand’ and did ‘The Twist.’ . . . Little do people know that [dancing apart] is because of Chubby Checker.”

Checker neither wrote nor was the first to record “The Twist.” Those distinctions belong to Hank Ballard. But Ballard’s earthier version, released in the late 1950s, never caught on.

Today, Checker equates himself with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in terms of his iconic value and his ability to appeal to people of all ages. He thinks so highly of his early- to mid-1960s material, which includes 21 other Top 40 hits, he considers making another rock album superfluous.

Though he may not have been in any studios lately, Checker still knows how to please an audience. He marches out “The Twist,” sometimes with songs that capitalize on its popularity (“Let’s Twist Again” and “Slow Twistin’ ”), sometimes with other rock and roll dances (“The Fly” and “Limbo Rock”). Such audience-friendly numbers continue to bring Checker’s fans to their feet.

Still, Checker says, the entertainment establishment doesn’t always give him the respect he deserves. Though he earns $20,000 to $60,000 a concert, he says he’s underpaid compared with top Las Vegas-type performers Wayne Newton and Tom Jones.

Despite such perceived obstacles, Checker would seem to have an acute business sense. When his name wasn’t drawing ticket sales between 1974 and 1988, he played at private corporate events, where, he says, he “made a fortune.”

The aptly named singer also has found a rewarding niche in the food industry. He owns his own line of peanut butter and salsa. He brags that Chubby Checker’s Beef Jerky was once voted the best in the country. Then there’s his Twist-a-Sizer weight-loss machine, which he is trying to promote.

Checker said he is trying to develop his own gospel-oriented record company and plans to release his own album on the label. Five of his earlier albums will be re-released through the company, he says. He hopes to land a distribution deal for the TEEC label, which stands for The Ernest Evans Corp., after Checker’s given name.

Married for 34 years to Dutch-born former Miss World Catharina Lodders, Checker is the father of three grown children and lives in the Philadelphia area.

Although he still performs regularly, Checker says he would as soon retire if he found a pot of gold elsewhere.

“If my food business gets real good, and I make $100,000 a day, then I’m going to say goodbye to show business,” he said, explaining that he feels his singing talents aren’t reaping the rewards they deserve.

Complaints aside, Checker insists he is content with his life. He is, he said, a “very successful man.”

* Chubby Checker and the Wildcats perform with comedian Sarge on Thursday at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, 9 p.m. $36.50-$77. (800) 300-4345. A 1950s dance party with a band will follow the show between 12:15 and 1:30 a.m.