Chubby Checker would much rather perform in front of a live audience than attend his own induction ceremony.
“The Twist” singer explained his reasoning for skipping the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in November at a recent concert in Des Plaines, Illinois, Future Rock Legends reported.
“I told my manager, ‘Make sure when we go to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction, that I’m doing what I love doing most: being in front of an audience. A live audience. Not a television audience,’” the 83-year-old said in a video posted to Bluesky.
“She got me a show and the Rock Hall says, ‘We want you to come here this day and be here.’ I said, ‘We’re not coming…we have a gig,’” Checker explained.
Organizers wanted Checker to forget about the gig, to which he replied, “You never forget about gigs.”
Checker added that his reason for skipping the ceremony is “to show that I’m alive.”
“My dream is still being fulfilled and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is happening all at the same time,” he added, according to another video posted to Bluesky.
The chart-topping singer is not the only musician who won’t be attending the Hall’s induction ceremony. Legendary bassist Carol Kaye, who was part of a group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, revealed in June that she is boycotting this year’s ceremony as well.
“People have been asking: NO I won’t be there,” Kaye wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post. “I am declining the RRHOF awards show (and Denny Tedesco process)… because it wasn’t something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden era of the 1960s Recording Hits.”
According to Rolling Stone, Kaye was featured in Tedesco’s 2008 documentary, “The Wrecking Crew,” about the collective that recorded songs with The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, The Monkees and more in the 1960s and ‘70s. However, she objected to the Wrecking Crew name, which came from drummer Hal Blaine.
Kaye said she started as a jazz guitarist who “got into recording good music” in the ‘50s with artists like Sam Cooke. She once replaced a bassist who failed to show for a studio session and soon found it “easy… to invent good bass lines” — but still gave credit to the group of collaborators.
“You are always part of a TEAM, not a solo artist at all….there were always 350-400 Studio Musicians (AFM Local 47 Hollywood) working in the busy 1960s, and called that ONLY ….since 1930s, I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all….that’s a terrible insulting name,” she wrote. “I refuse to be part of a process that is something else rather than what I believe in, for others’ benefit and not reflecting on the truth – we all enjoyed working with EACH OTHER.”
Checker is most famous for “The Twist,” which hit No. 1 in 1960 and was named the top song on Billboard’s all-time Hot 100 chart. His decades-long career also includes “Pony Time,” “Let’s Twist Again” and his version of “Limbo Rock.”
Checker, who was eligible since 1986, will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 8 along with Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Bad Company, Outkast, Soundgarden and the White Stripes. The ceremony will stream live on Disney+ and be available on Hulu the next day.
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