Quotes from Chubby Checker

People don't do the Macarena together. Or if they do, they do it to get closer, to get together. It's the same thing with the Electric Slide.

I was born in South Carolina. On my dad's farm, I didn't have much. I'm just a poor kid who worked in a produce market.

Fame was a mixed blessing for me because I thought I could be as big as I wanted to be, and then I realized that I couldn't because of the racist element in the record business.

You have to be very strong to play my music. The drummer has to be in great shape. Same with the guitarist. You have to be a monster to play with Chubby!

I was 17 or 18 when 'The Twist' came along, and the rest is history. Sometimes I regret it. I would have gotten more into acting. I would have been more of a legitimate performer onstage like Liza Minnelli. But I got so caught up in the dance thing that I never got into theater.

I compare the Twist to the electric light, The Twist is me, and I'm it. I'm the electric light.

History was made the day Chubby Checker went on 'Bandstand' with 'The Twist.'

I don't get the airplay that one in my position deserves. 'Twist and Shout' gets more airplay than 'The Twist,' and that's not right.

When I play in Atlantic City, I perform Tuesdays through Sundays for two weeks, and I have 91-percent attendance. No one else plays six days a week, two shows per night, and does that kind of business.

Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears all the rappers, they're doing my dances and they're making billions doing my dances. When they do that little thing they do with their hands that's The Fly and The Pony.

I hope that I am out of the music business when I meet God.

I'm in a crazy business. The music industry is really tough, and I fight for my life. I just want to make everybody happy.

What I bring to the stage is humility.

The only difference between The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith, and Chubby Checker is that they get their music played on the radio.

When I'm onstage they know I'm honest, and I try to be as humble as I can.

My outlet is my music, and it's been this way since I was 4 years old.

God's got something for me. I have faith it'll be OK.

Homey don't quit. What else are you gonna do? It's like those guys in the cartoon they get up in the morning, check the clock and fight all day and after it's over they check the clock and go home. That's how it goes.

What turns me on is to walk into a sold-out venue. The audiences are so much the same as they were in the '60s. It's just an amazing thing. I can't explain it, but I hope it never stops.

What turns me on is to walk into a sold-out venue. The audiences are so much the same as they were in the '60s. It's just an amazing thing. I can't explain it, but I hope it never stops.

Before I got in this business I was in the chicken business.