Credit: Image Donated by Corbis-Bettmann
One of the string of the pop singers from southeastern Pennsylvania to appear on American Bandstand on their way to stardom, Earnest Evans attended South Philadelphia High School with Frankie Avalon and Fabian before signing with Cameo-Parkway Records under the name Chubby Checker in 1959. (Rydell was another Cameo-Parkway recording star, as was the Philadelphia group the Dovells.) The twist–both the song and the dance–propelled him into international stardom in 1960.
