Creator of 'The Twist' dies in US

Hank Ballard, the singer and songwriter whose hit The Twist ushered a dance craze in the 1960s, has died.

Ballard, who was suffering from throat cancer, died at his California home yesterday, aged 76.

“He was just a very good man and loved by so many people,” said friend Anna Ayala.

In 1958, Ballard wrote and recorded The Twist, but it was only released on the B side of a record.

A year later, Chubby Checker sang his own version of the song on a US TV show.

It soon topped the charts around the world and launched a dance craze that prompted the creation of other Twist songs, including Twist and Shout by the Isley Brothers and Twistin’ the Night Away by Sam Cooke.

Ballard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

In a 1996 interview, he described music as his medicine.

“If you’re looking for youth, you’re looking for longevity, just take a dose of rock’n roll,” Ballard said.

“It keeps you going. Just like the caffeine in your coffee. Rock’n roll is good for the soul, for the well being, for the psyche, for your everything. I love it. I can’t even picture being without rock’n roll.”

Ballard was discovered in the early 1950s by writer-producer Johnny Otis.

He was lead singer for the Royals, which changed its name to the Midnighters.

Ballard’s songs were sometimes banned from 1950s radio for their sexually suggestive lyrics.

By the early 1960s, he had charted 22 singles in the rhythm and blues charts, including Work with Me Annie – the biggest R&B hit of 1954, selling more than one million copies.

The song was part of a well-known trilogy of risque R&B numbers that included Annie Had a Baby and Annie’s Aunt Fannie.

Ballard and the Midnighters didn’t suffer from Checker’s version of The Twist.

By the mid 1960s, the group had three simultaneous hits in the US top 40: Finger Poppin’ Time, Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go” and their original version of The Twist.