Chubby Checker is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song "The Twist", and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song "Pony Time". His biggest UK hit, "Let's Twist Again", was released one year later ; that year, he also popularized the song "Limbo Rock", originally a previous-year instrumental hit by the Champs to which he added lyrics, and its trademark Limbo dance, as well as other dance styles such as The Fly. In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained for an August 2013 update of the list.
Jean-Philippe Léo Smet, better known by his stage name Johnny Hallyday, was a French rock and roll and pop singer and actor, credited with having brought rock and roll to France.
Sylvie Vartan is a Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured elaborate show-dance choreography, and she made many appearances on French and Italian TV.
The twist is a dance that was inspired by rock and roll music. From 1959 to the early sixties it became a worldwide dance craze, enjoying immense popularity while drawing controversies from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, and the Funky Chicken, but none were as popular.
The Mashed Potato is a dance move which was a popular dance craze of 1962. The dance move and mashed potato song were first made famous by James Brown in 1959 and used in his concerts regularly. It was also a dance done to songs such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time". The move vaguely resembles that of the twist, by Sharp's fellow Philadelphian Chubby Checker. The dance was first popularized internationally after being named in the lyrics of Motown's first mega-hit in the song "Do You Love Me" written by Berry Gordy Jr. and performed by The Contours in 1962.
"The Twist" is an American pop song written and originally released in 1958 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side to "Teardrops on Your Letter". It was inspired by the twist dance craze. Ballard's version was a moderate hit, peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. On the US Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart, the original version of "The Twist" first peaked at number 16 in 1959 and at number six in 1960. By 1962, the record sold in excess of one million copies, becoming Ballard's fourth million seller.
"Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" is a song written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil Spector. It first became a popular top five hit single for the American girl group the Crystals in 1963. American teen idol Shaun Cassidy recorded the song in 1977 and his version hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. There have also been many other cover versions of this song, including one by the songwriters Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich themselves, performing as the Raindrops.
Les Fatals Picards is a French rock/punk band, founded in 1996.
"(You're the) Devil in Disguise" is a 1963 single by Elvis Presley. It was written by Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye and was published by Elvis Presley Music in June 1963. The song peaked at No. 3 in the US on the Billboard singles chart on August 10, 1963, and No. 9 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues singles chart, becoming his last top ten single on those charts. The single was certified "Gold" by the RIAA for sales in excess of 500,000 units in the US. The song also topped Japan's Utamatic record chart in the fall of 1963. In June 1963, when the song was debuted to a British audience on the BBC television show Juke Box Jury, celebrity guest John Lennon voted the song "a miss" stating on the new song that Elvis Presley was "like Bing Crosby now". The song went on to reach No. 1 in the UK for a single week.
"Speedy Gonzales" is a 1961 song by David Hess, who recorded it under the name David Dante, about Speedy Gonzales, "the fastest mouse in all Mexico". It was written by Buddy Kaye, Ethel Lee and Dante/Hess. The David Dante original version briefly entered the U.S. Music Vendor chart in April 1961.
"Let's Dance" is a 1962 hit single by Chris Montez, written and produced by Jim Lee.
Sang pour sang is a 1999 album recorded by French singer Johnny Hallyday. It was released on 13 September 1999, and achieved huge success in France and Belgium (Wallonia), where it topped the charts and stayed on the charts for respectively two and one years. It provided five top 15 singles in France : "Vivre pour le meilleur", "Un jour viendra", "Sang pour sang", "Partie de cartes" and "Pardon". David Hallyday, Johnny's son, participated in the composition of all the songs of the album, along with Miossec and Zazie.
"Ya Ya" is a song by Lee Dorsey. The song was written by Dorsey, C. L. Blast, Bobby Robinson, and Morris Levy. Levy's participation in the writing has been called into question; the Flashback release of the single lists only Dorsey and Blast as writers, as do the liner notes to the American Graffiti soundtrack.
"Limbo Rock" is a popular song about limbo dancing written by Kal Mann and Billy Strange. An instrumental version was first recorded by The Champs in 1961. The first vocal version was recorded in 1962 by Chubby Checker : it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and at number one on the Cash Box charts. The Chubby Checker recording also made it to number three on the R&B charts.
Jive Bunny: The Album is the debut album by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers, released in 1989 by Telstar Records and produced by Les Hemstock and Andy Pickles. It includes two UK number one singles: "Swing the Mood" and "That's What I Like". Each of the album's tracks is made up of a medley of songs and samples from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Salut les copains is a series of albums released through Universal Music France to commemorate the best of music featured in French scene as sponsored by the "Salut les copains" radio program in France and the French Salut les copains magazine. The tracks include French original singles, French-language covers of known hits as well as European and American hits popular in France. The track list is a representative wide selection of the "Yé-yé" generation of French music.
Jonathan Maman, better known by his stage name John Mamann, is a French singer, songwriter and composer who is signed to AZ, part of Universal Music. He has released three albums, Mister Joe in 2010, self-titled Joe Mamann in 2012 and Love Life in 2013. The title track from the last album "Love \ Life", a duo with Portuguese singer Kika, has charted on French Singles Chart.
"Retiens la nuit" is a song by French singer Johnny Hallyday from his 1961 studio album Salut les copains. It was also released as an EP in February 1962 and as a single two months prior. The song was also featured in the 1962 French comedy-drama anthology film "Les parisiennes", which starred Hallyday.
Tio i Topp was a Swedish record chart and radio program broadcast by Sveriges Radio P3 between the years of 1961 and 1974. It was launched to combat pirate radio charts and was the first official Swedish record chart, predating the sales chart Kvällstoppen by a year. For a few months during the summers starting in 1962, it would turn into Sommartoppen with a separate host and a different concept. The program ceased in June 1974 following heated debates tying in with the progg movement. Both Tio i Topp and Kvällstoppen are considered official charts in Sweden during the 1960s.
