Checker. The version that
Henry Stone paid for and recorded at the North Miami Armory
studio was the original master sent to Abner at Vee Jay
Records. This was in 1957 and in 1960 it was covered and
released by Chubby Checker on the Cameo Parkway label.
According to Stone, the story goes like this: "Ballard
came into my office here in Miami one day and said to
me, 'Henry, my contract with King Records is over.' Ballard
implied to me that he was shopping for a new record label.
We discussed Chicago's Chess or Vee Jay Record labels
and he decided on Vee Jay Records. I called Ewart Abner
at Vee Jay, who was definitely interested and he asked
me if Ballard's contract with King Records was over? I
told him I was 100% positive that the contract had expired
and he was getting ready to sign a contract with somebody.
"Abner said he would sign him up under one condition,
that I record him in Miami, while he was down here. There
was no recording studio in Miami at the time. The famous
Criteria studio had not opened at the time but Mac Emmermen
had portable recording equipment, so we decided to take
Ballard into the North Miami Armory and we recorded him
there for Vee Jay.
"During the recording session at the Armory, while
going over some material, Ballard played for me a very
slow Bluesy tempo song that he called 'The Twist'. I remember
Ballard's guitar player, Cal Green, tuning up his guitar
for 'The Twist' in a much faster danceable tempo then
the slower Bluesy version. I turned to Ballard and said,
'Why don't we take this Blues version and merge it with
Green's up tempo guitar riff and turn 'The Twist' into
a dance record?'
"We did just that and sent the tapes to Abner at
Vee Jay in Chicago. Syd Nathan called Abner and said,
'Ballard's contract is up, but he owes me $300.00. If
Ballard don't pay me the $300.00 I'm going to sue you
and Henry Stone and the whole world.' That was Nathan's
forte.
"Abner called me and said, 'What do you want to
do?" I told Abner that I would send him the $300.00
to give to Nathan to shut him up, Abner agreed and said
he would call Nathan with my proposal. Nathan turned the
deal down, Abner decided rather than have a lawsuit he
gave the tapes to Syd Nathan.
"After Syd Nathan received the more up tempo version
of 'The Twist' from Abner, the version that I produced,
Syd released 'The Twist' as the B-side to Ballard's #4
national hit, 'Teardrops On Your Letter.' After lying
dormant for nearly two years, Chubby Checker (real name
Earnest Evans) covered the song and took it to #1 twice
in 1960 - 1962! 'The Twist' would in time become the biggest
teenage and adult dance craze in all of Rock history."
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