Hank Ballard, wrote `The Twist'
CHUBBY CHECKER'S COVER CAUSED CRAZE

LOS ANGELES - (AP) Hank Ballard, the singer and songwriter whose hit ``The Twist'' ushered a nationwide dance craze in the 1960s, died Sunday at his home. Friends said he had been suffering from throat cancer.

A caretaker said Mr. Ballard's birth records indicate he was born in 1927, but biographical information puts his birth date as 1936.

Hank Ballard'The Twist' writer, singer

Hank Ballard, the singer and songwriter whose hit "The Twist" ushered in a nationwide dance craze in the 1960s, died Sunday. He had throat cancer. <a href=http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/obituaries/5308954.htm target=_blank>more</a>

Honoring Ballard, who wrote 'Twist'

Joel Selvin, SF Chronicle Staff Writer

All the obituaries for Hank Ballard, who died of throat cancer at age 66 on March 2, made a big deal out of his writing "The Twist" and recording the song on the B-side of a single a year before Chubby Checker made the dance craze an international sensation. While Ballard's ill-fated version of "The Twist" makes for good headlines, the deep significance of Ballard's career revolves around his early battles with censorship. <a href=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/03/23/PK64832.DTL target=_blank>more</a>