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54-532: "Peppermint Twist" replaced Chubby Checker 's " The Twist ", the song that sparked the Twist fad, at the No. 1 position. This song: "Peppermint Twist" should not be confused with The Peppermint Twist which is an entirely different song, written by Danny Lamego whose group Danny Peppermint And The Jumping Jacks had a #54 Billboard hit with it in December 1961. Danny Peppermint performed at that time at The Peppermint Lounge in Manhattan, after which both songs are named, as did Joey Dee And The Starliters who went on to have

108-574: A Little Lamb ". Clark sent the song out as his Christmas greeting, and it received such good response that Cameo-Parkway signed Checker to a recording contract. Titled " The Class ", the single became Checker's first release, charting at No. 38 in the spring of 1959. Checker introduced his version of "The Twist" at the age of 18 in July 1960 in Wildwood, New Jersey at the Rainbow Club. "The Twist" went on to top

162-541: A private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark . After hearing Chubby's Fats Domino impression, Clark's wife Barbara suggested that Chubby be called "Chubby Checker " in homage to Fats Domino . In December 1958, Checker privately recorded a novelty single for Clark in which the singer portrayed a school teacher with an unruly classroom of musical performers. The premise allowed Checker to imitate such acts as Fats Domino , The Coasters , Elvis Presley , Cozy Cole , and The Chipmunks , each singing " Mary Had

216-554: A tour designed to raise funds for rescue animals in need nationwide. In 2002, Checker protested outside of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, over the lack of radio airplay of his hit " The Twist " and his perception that the Hall of Fame had snubbed him. Seymour Stein , president of the Rock Hall 's New York chapter and member of the nomination committee, claimed "I think that Chubby

270-532: Is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from alquerque . The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move". The most popular forms of checkers in Anglophone countries are American checkers (also called English draughts ), which

324-604: Is called "ντάμα" (dama), which is also one term for the queen in chess. Similar games have been played for millennia. A board resembling a checkers board was found in Ur dating from 3000 BC. In the British Museum are specimens of ancient Egyptian checkerboards, found with their pieces in burial chambers, and the game was played by the pharaoh Hatshepsut . Plato mentioned a game, πεττεία or petteia , as being of Egyptian origin, and Homer also mentions it. The method of capture

378-460: Is no draw with one king and men versus one king. 10x10 15 10x10 15 Column draughts (Russian towers), also known as Bashni , is a kind of draughts, known in Russia since the beginning of the nineteenth century, in which the game is played according to the usual rules of Russian draughts, but with the difference that the captured man is not removed from the playing field: rather, it is placed under

432-485: Is placed on the number of moves that are allowed in between jumps (which is a reasonable generalisation of the drawing rule in standard Checkers), then the problem is in PSPACE, thus it is PSPACE-complete. However, without this bound, Checkers is EXPTIME-complete. However, other problems have only polynomial complexity : In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or

486-606: Is played in Turkey, Kuwait, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Greece, and several other locations in the Middle East, as well as in the same locations as Russian checkers. There are several variants in these countries, with the Armenian variant (called tama ) allowing also forward-diagonal movement of men and the Greek requiring the king to stop directly after the captured piece. With this rule, there

540-403: Is played on an 8×8 checkerboard ; Russian draughts and Turkish draughts , both on an 8x8 board; and International draughts , played on a 10×10 board – with the latter widely played in many countries worldwide. There are many other variants played on 8×8 boards. Canadian checkers and Malaysian/Singaporean checkers (also locally known as dam ) are played on a 12×12 board. American checkers

594-403: Is possible, capturing is mandatory in most official rules. If the player does not capture, the other player can remove the opponent's piece as a penalty (or muffin), and where there are two or more such positions the player forfeits pieces that cannot be moved (although some rule variations make capturing optional). In almost all variants, a player with no valid move remaining loses. This occurs if

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648-455: Is someone who will be considered. He has in certain years." In 2013, Checker sued HP over a WebOS application using his name. The application, before being pulled in September 2012, was used to unscientifically estimate penis size from shoe size. The district court said that Checker's trademark claim survived HP's motion to dismiss, but his other claims were dismissed per Section 230 of

702-507: The Billboard rhythm and blues chart, in the 1959 version recorded by its author, Hank Ballard , whose band The Midnighters first performed the dance on stage. Checker's "Twist", however, was a nationwide smash, aided by his many appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand , the top 10 American Bandstand ranking of the song, and the teenagers on the show who enjoyed dancing the Twist. The song

756-570: The Billboard Hot 100 not just once in 1960, but yet again in a separate chart run in late 1961. The first success was attributed to teens, and the unprecedented second number-one Billboard ranking was driven by older audiences following a spirited live performance of the song by Checker on The Ed Sullivan Show , seen by over 10 million viewers. ( Bing Crosby 's " White Christmas " had also achieved number one twice on Billboard ' s earlier chart.) " The Twist " had previously peaked at No. 16 on

810-635: The Communications Decency Act . Checker performed as well as appeared as a version of himself in Twist Around the Clock (1961) and Don't Knock the Twist (1962). In both films he provided advice and crucial breaks for the protagonist. In 1988, Checker appeared as himself performing alongside the Purple People Eater in the film of the same name . Checker later appeared as himself in

864-536: The Italian Market on Ninth Street and at the Produce Market, with songs and jokes. It was his boss at the Produce Market, "Tony A.", who gave Evans the nickname "Chubby". The owner of Fresh Farm Poultry, Henry Colt, was so impressed by the boy's performances for the customers that he, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records , arranged for young Chubby to do

918-555: The RIAA . Despite Checker's initial disapproval, he found follow-up success with a succession of up-tempo dance tracks, including "The Hucklebuck" (#14), " The Fly " (#7), "Dance the Mess Around" (#24), and " Pony Time ", which became his second No. 1 single. Checker's follow-up "twist" single, " Let's Twist Again ", won the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording . A 1962 duet with Dee Dee Sharp , "Slow Twistin'", reached No. 3 on

972-401: The fourth season of Ally McBeal . He also performed the track in the tenth season of Murphy Brown . In 2008, Checker's "The Twist" was named the biggest chart hit of all time by Billboard magazine. Billboard looked at all singles that made the charts between 1958 and 2008. He was also honored by Settlement Music School as part of the school's centennial celebration and named to

1026-492: 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 (in 1962); 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

1080-561: The 13th-century book Libro de los juegos . The rule of crowning was used by the 13th century, as it is mentioned in the Philippe Mouskés 's Chronique in 1243 when the game was known as Fierges , the name used for the chess queen (derived from the Persian ferz , meaning royal counsellor or vizier). The pieces became known as "dames" when that name was also adopted for the chess queen. The rule forcing players to take whenever possible

1134-414: The 1989 Quantum Leap episode entitled "Good Morning, Peoria" where he walks into a radio station in 1959 hoping to have his demo record played on the air. The show's main character, Dr. Sam Beckett ( Scott Bakula ), persuades the station owner to play the song "The Twist", inadvertently teaching Checker himself how to do The Twist. In 2001, Checker again guest-starred as himself singing "The Twist" in

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1188-621: The Dreamers ' dance tune "Do the Freddie", with new melody and lyrics. Changes in public tastes, owing mostly to the British Invasion and counterculture era , ended his hit-making career. He spent much of the rest of the 1960s touring and recording in Europe. "The Twist" was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records and along with the label's other material, became unavailable after the early 1970s because of

1242-521: The Settlement 100, a list of notable people connected to the school. Checker received the prestigious Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award on November 9, 2013, from the Artists Music Guild. Checker was the host of the 2013 AMG Heritage Awards and was given the honor during the television broadcast. The award was presented to him by longtime friend and labelmate Dee Dee Sharp . In 2014, Checker

1296-696: The Walls". The single also made the top 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Roger Filgate of Wishbone Ash is featured on lead guitar. In 2009, Checker recorded a public service announcement (PSA) for the Social Security Administration to help launch a new campaign to promote recent changes in Medicare law. In the PSA, Checker encourages Americans on Medicare to apply for Extra Help, "A new 'twist' in

1350-430: The ability to move any amount of squares at a time (in international checkers), move backwards and, in variants where men cannot already do so, capture backwards. Like a man, a king can make successive jumps in a single turn, provided that each jump captures an enemy piece. In international draughts, kings (also called flying kings ) move any distance. They may capture an opposing man any distance away by jumping to any of

1404-559: The bigger hit. The lead singer in the Starliters' version is David Brigati , whose brother, Eddie Brigati , was a singer for the 1960s pop group the (Young) Rascals . The other personnel on the record included Carlton Lattimore on organ, Billy Butler on guitar, Jerome Richardson on sax, and Don Martin on drums. The song was covered by English glam rock band the Sweet and was included on their album Sweet Fanny Adams in 1974. In Australia,

1458-486: The cells of a square grid was not already known to the Moors who brought it, which it probably was, either via playing on a chessboard (in about 1100, probably in the south of France, this was done once again using backgammon pieces, thereby each piece was called a "fers", the same name as the chess queen , as the move of the two pieces was the same at the time) or adapting Seega using jumping capture. The rules are given in

1512-516: The company's internal legal disputes. For decades, almost all compilations of Checker's hits consisted of re-recordings. The 1970s saw a shift and resurgence for his career, including a temporary stint as a disco artist. Checker continued to be a superstar in Europe with television and records. A dance-floor cover version of the Beatles ' " Back in the U.S.S.R. " released in 1969 on Buddah Records , his first chart entry in three years, reached No. 82. It

1566-474: The first computer checkers and arguably the first video game ever according to certain definitions. In the 1950s, Arthur Samuel created one of the first board game-playing programs of any kind. More recently, in 2007 scientists at the University of Alberta developed their " Chinook " program to the point where it is unbeatable. A brute force approach that took hundreds of computers working nearly two decades

1620-437: The game from English speakers), checkers is called dame , dames , damas , or a similar term that refers to ladies. The pieces are usually called men , stones , "peón" (pawn) or a similar term; men promoted to kings are called dames or ladies. In these languages, the queen in chess or in card games is usually called by the same term as the kings in checkers. A case in point includes the Greek terminology, in which checkers

1674-455: The game is a draw. In an ending with three kings versus one king, the player with three kings must win in thirteen moves or the game is a draw. There is also a 10×8 board variant (with two additional columns labelled i and k ) and the give-away variant Poddavki . There are official championships for shashki and its variants. 10x10 15 With this rule, there is no draw with two kings versus one. Slovak draughts 10x10? 15? 8 It

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1728-427: The game. American checkers (English draughts) has been the arena for several notable advances in game artificial intelligence . In 1951 Christopher Strachey wrote the first video game program on checkers. The checkers program tried to run for the first time on 30 July 1951 at NPL, but was unsuccessful due to program errors. In the summer of 1952 he successfully ran the program on Ferranti Mark 1 computer and played

1782-658: The law makes it easier than ever to save on your prescription drug plan costs." On February 25, 2013, Checker released a new single, the ballad "Changes," via iTunes ; it was posted on YouTube and amassed over 160,000 views. "Changes" was produced by the hill & hifi and reached 43 on the Mediabase Top 100 AC Chart and 41 on the Gospel Chart. Checker performed it on July 5, 2013, on NBC 's Today show. In 2015, Checker joined forces with Howard Perl Entertainment to produce live events, such as "Rock and Roll to The Rescue",

1836-601: The most complex game ever solved . In November 1983, the Science Museum Oklahoma (then called the Omniplex) unveiled a new exhibit: Lefty the Checker Playing Robot. Programmed by Scott M Savage, Lefty used an Armdroid robotic arm by Colne Robotics and was powered by a 6502 processor with a combination of Basic and Assembly code to interactively play a round of checkers with visitors to the museum. Originally,

1890-512: The most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained in an August 2013 update of the list. Checker was born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina . He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia , where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans, and two brothers. By age eleven, Evans formed a street-corner harmony group. By

1944-479: The national charts. Other substantial hits included " Dancin' Party ", " Popeye the Hitchhiker ", " Twenty Miles ", " Birdland ", " Loddy Lo ", and a Christmas duet with Bobby Rydell , " Jingle Bell Rock ". " Limbo Rock " reached No. 2 on 22–29 December 1962, becoming Checker's last top ten hit. Checker continued to have top 40 singles until 1965, his last being " Let's Do the Freddie " (#40), a variation on Freddie and

1998-430: The necessity for two pieces to cooperate to capture one, although, like Ghanaian draughts, the game could still be declared lost by a player with only one piece left. An Arabic game called Quirkat or al-qirq , with similar play to modern checkers, was played on a 5×5 board. It is mentioned in the tenth-century work Kitab al-Aghani . Al qirq was also the name for the game that is now called nine men's morris . Al qirq

2052-419: The opponent's pieces. A move consists of moving a piece forward to an adjacent unoccupied square. If the adjacent square contains an opponent's piece, and the square immediately beyond it is vacant, the piece may be captured (and removed from the game) by jumping over it. Only the dark squares of the checkerboard are used. A piece can only move forward into an unoccupied square. When capturing an opponent's piece

2106-402: The player has no pieces left, or if all the player's pieces are obstructed from moving by opponent pieces. An uncrowned piece ( man ) moves one step ahead and captures an adjacent opponent's piece by jumping over it and landing on the next square. Multiple enemy pieces can be captured in a single turn provided this is done by successive jumps made by a single piece; the jumps do not need to be in

2160-401: The program was deliberately simple so that the average museum visitor could potentially win, but over time was improved. The improvements however proved to be more frustrating for the visitors, so the original code was reimplemented. Generalized Checkers is played on an M × N board. It is PSPACE-hard to determine whether a specified player has a winning strategy. And if a polynomial bound

2214-437: The same line and may "zigzag" (change diagonal direction). In American checkers, men can jump only forwards; in international draughts and Russian draughts , men can jump both forwards and backwards. When a man reaches the farthest row forward, known as the kings row or crown head , it becomes a king . It is marked by placing an additional piece on top of, or crowning , the first man. The king has additional powers, namely

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2268-494: The single reached No. 4 on the weekly chart and No. 26 on the 1975 year end chart. This 1960s rock song-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans ; October 3, 1941) 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

2322-455: The studio musicians' names are unknown. The album flopped. Later in the decade, he recorded an album of "audiophile re-creations" of his greatest hits, for producer Stan Shulman. In 1988, Chubby teamed up with hip-hop trio The Fat Boys with their version of The Twist (Yo, Twist) : this reached No 2 in the UK. Checker had a single at No. 1 on Billboard's dance chart in July 2008 with "Knock Down

2376-542: The time he entered high school, Ernest had learned to play the piano a little at Settlement Music School . He entertained his classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis , Elvis Presley and Fats Domino . One of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School was Fabian Forte, who would become a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s as Fabian . After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, including Fresh Farm Poultry in

2430-507: The unoccupied squares immediately beyond it. Because jumped pieces remain on the board until the turn is complete, it is possible to reach a position in a multi-jump move where the flying king is blocked from capturing further by a piece already jumped. Flying kings are not used in American checkers; a king's only advantage over a man is the additional ability to move and capture backwards. In most non-English languages (except those that acquired

2484-436: Was weakly solved in 2007 by a team of Canadian computer scientists led by Jonathan Schaeffer . From the standard starting position, perfect play by each side would result in a draw. Checkers is played by two opponents on opposite sides of the game board. One player has dark pieces (usually black); the other has light pieces (usually white or red). The darker color moves first, then players alternate turns. A player cannot move

2538-523: Was Checker's last chart appearance until 1982 when he hit No. 91 with "Running". In 1971, Checker at his own insistence recorded a psychedelic album filled with music he felt was "current" that was initially only released in Europe. Originally named Chequered! , it was renamed over the years in subsequent re-releases as New Revelation , The Other Side Of Chubby Checker , and sometimes as Chubby Checker . The songs were all written by Checker and produced by former Jimi Hendrix producer Ed Chalpin , but

2592-458: Was born in a Philadelphia hospital on December 8, 1966. Their other two children are Ilka Evans and musician Shan Egan (Evans), lead singer of Funk Church, a band in the Philadelphia area. Checker is also the father of WNBA player Mistie Bass . Checkers Checkers ( American English ), also known as draughts ( / d r ɑː f t s , d r æ f t s / ; British English ),

2646-721: Was brought to Spain by the Moors , where it became known as Alquerque , the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name. It was maybe adapted into a derivation of latrunculi , or the game of the Little Soldiers, with a leaping capture, which, like modern Argentine, German, Greek and Thai draughts, had flying kings which had to stop on the next square after the captured piece, but pieces could only make up to three captures at once, or seven if all directions were legal. That said, even if playing al qirq inside

2700-584: Was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame . On December 12, 1963, Checker proposed to Catharina Lodders , a 21-year-old Dutch model and Miss World 1962 from Haarlem . Checker said he met Lodders in Manila the prior January. The song " Loddy Lo " is about her. They were married on April 12, 1964, at Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken, New Jersey . Their first child, Bianca Johanna Evans,

2754-503: Was introduced in France in around 1535, at which point the game became known as Jeu forcé , identical to modern American checkers. The game without forced capture became known as Le jeu plaisant de dames , the precursor of international checkers. The 18th-century English author Samuel Johnson wrote a foreword to a 1756 book about checkers by William Payne , the earliest book in English about

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2808-505: Was placing two pieces on either side of the opponent's piece. It was said to have been played during the Trojan War . The Romans played a derivation of petteia called latrunculi , or the game of the Little Soldiers. The pieces, and sporadically the game itself, were called calculi ( pebbles ). Like the pawn in Chess , Alquerque was probably derived from πεττεία and latrunculi by removing

2862-433: Was so ubiquitous that Checker felt that his critics thought he could only succeed as a dance demonstrator. Checker later lamented: ""The Twist" really ruined my life. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and "The Twist" just wiped it out ... It got so out of proportion. No one ever believes I have talent." By 1965 alone, "The Twist" had sold over 15 million copies, and was awarded multiple gold discs by

2916-460: Was used to solve the game, showing that a game of checkers will always end in a draw if neither player makes a mistake. The solution is for the checkers variation called go-as-you-please (GAYP) checkers and not for the variation called three-move restriction checkers, however it is a legal three-move restriction game because only openings believed to lose are barred under the three-move restriction. As of December 2007, this makes American checkers

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