Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
16 articles
Audio interviews
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 March 1985
The chief Midnighter talks about his 'Twist' royalty legal entanglements, a loan from the notorious Morris Levy and his current musical activities.
File format: mp3; file size: 17.7mb, interview length: 20' 29" sound quality: * (phoner)
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 1987
From Alabama to Detroit, from The Royals to The Midnighters, the great Hank Ballard tells of Clyde McPhatter, Billy Ward, King Records and 'The Twist' and 'Work With Me Annie'
File format: mp3; file size: 44.2meg, interview length: 46' 05" sound quality: ***
List of articles in the library
Report and Interview by Jim Payne, Crawdaddy!, January 1968
IN DAYTONA Beach it rains every afternoon for half an hour or so. When Hank Ballard arrived, it was raining. It's hard to make a ...
Hank Ballard: The Man Who Twisted Himself
Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 19 January 1974
COVER VERSIONS have long been the bane of the rhythm and blues field of music. During the 'Fifties, the major record companies kept their ears ...
Overview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, May 1975
Moments, Whatnauts, Shirley And Company, Sylvia... the chartbusting music they're calling the "New Jersey Sound" comes from just one source: All Platinum Records. Tony Cummings ...
Interview: Hank Ballard at the Locust, Theater, Philadelphia, PA. February 23, 1980
Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 23 February 1980
THERE WAS THIS company in Philadelphia called Sherjam and in the winter of 1979-1980 and maybe the following year they put on a series of ...
Retrospective by Cliff White, The History of Rock, 1982
HANK BALLARD is most often remembered as the man who wrote ‘The Twist’ but lost out to Chubby Chucker as the populariser of the dance ...
Hank Ballard & The Midnighters: From The Sins Of Annie To The Twist
Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, March 1983
IT WAS TOWARDS the end of 1951 that Johnny Otis (born John Veliotes; he found it gainful to pass as black), the 30-year-old Savoy recording ...
Hank Ballard: The 'Twist' and Turns of a Rock Pioneer
Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 December 1985
HANK BALLARD wrote and recorded ‘The Twist’, but it was Chubby Checker who had the big hit record. With the early R&B group, the Royals, ...
Hank Ballard: The Original Twister
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 20 January 1987
B&S TALKS TO ONE OF THE TRUE UNSUNG HEROES ...
Retrospective by Pete Grendysa, Goldmine, 12 August 1988
THE ROYALS HAD a brief but important part to play in the development of rock 'n' roll. They were door-openers much like the Chords and ...
Hank Ballard: A Talk With Mr. Twister
Interview by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Reader, 13 August 1993
If you not movin' your hips, it just ain't happenin'. – Hank Ballard on dancing ...
Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, March 2003
RHYTHM & BLUES singer Hank Ballard (76) died of throat cancer on March 2 at his home in Los Angeles. His chief claim to ...
Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, April 2003
Phast Phreddie Patterson on those gone but not forgotten ...
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 4 June 2011
Fifty years ago, a new dance craze swept the world and changed for ever the way people move. Richard Williams, up on his feet when it ...
Hank Ballard: A Simple Twist of Fate
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Vintage Rock, November 2019
Chubby Checker may have become synonymous with 'The Twist', but that didn't bother the song's composer. "It was a blessing for me," said Hank Ballard ...
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