Hank Ballard
b. Henry Ballard, 18 November 1936, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Ballard's truck-driving father died when he was seven-years-old and he was sent to Bessemer, Alabama to live with relations. The strict religious and gospel upbringing caused him to run away, and, at 15, Ballard was working on an assembly line at Ford Motors in Detroit. His cousin, Florence Ballard, was to become a member of the Detroit girl group, The Supremes. Hank Ballard's singing voice was heard by Sonny Woods of the Royals, who was amused by his mixture of Jimmy Rushing and Gene Autry. He was asked to replace front man, Lawson Smith, during his army service. The Royals had been recommended to King Records by Johnny Otis and had previously recorded Every Beat Of My Heart, later an R&B hit for Gladys Knight & The Pips. In 1953, Ballard's first session with the Royals led to their first US R&B Top 10 entry, Get It, which he also wrote. Ballard composed their 1954 R&B chart-topper, Work With Me, Annie, although its sexual innuendoes were too strong for some radio stations to broadcast. Its popularity spawned sequels (Annie's Aunt Fanny, Annie Had A Baby) as well as answer records (The Platters' Annie Doesn't Work Here Anymore). Etta James's Roll With Me, Henry was modified by Georgia Gibbs to Dance With Me, Henry, while Hank himself responded with Henry's Got Flat Feet! The group also had success with Sexy Ways, Don't Change Your Pretty Ways, Open Up Your Back Door and Tore Up Over You. In 1955, The Drifters had converted a gospel song into What'cha Gonna Do? and, in 1957, Hank Ballard And The Midnighters used the same melody for Is Your Love For Real?. Then they modified the arrangement and changed the lyrics to The Twist. Not realizing the song's potential, it was released as the b-side of Teardrops On Your Letter, a number 4 US R&B hit. Shortly afterwards, The Twist was covered by Chubby Checker, who added dance steps and thus created a new craze. As a result of The Twist, Hank Ballard And The Midnighters received exposure on pop radio stations and made the US pop charts with such dance hits as Finger Poppin' Time (number 7), Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go (number 6), The Hoochi Coochi Coo (number 23), Let's Go Again (Where We Went Last Night) (number 39), The Continental (number 33) and The Switch-A-Roo (number 26). On the strength of Chubby Checker's success, their original version of The Twist made number 28 on the US pop charts. In 1963, Hank Ballard split with the Midnighters, but he retained the group's name, which has enabled him to work with numerous musicians as the Midnighters. For some years he worked with James Brown, who has paid tribute to him on record. He recorded a double-album at the Hammersmith Palais in London and he also recorded, Two Bad Boys (Just Out Makin' Noise), with Tim Hauser of Manhattan Transfer.