Legendary Rock Star Says He Won’t Attend His Hall of Fame Induction

After 40 years of eligibility, Ernest Evans, better known as Chubby Checker, will finally be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Nov. 8. Evans, however, is making a point of skipping the ceremony. During a live interview, the 83-year-old inventor of “The Twist,” a worldwide dance craze in the ’60s, said he made sure his manager booked him a gig that would prevent him from attending the induction ceremony. “I told my manager, ‘Make sure when we go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the induction, that I’m doing what I love doing the most: Being in front of an audience. A live audience, not a television audience,’” Evans said. When the Rock Hall officially invited Evans to the induction, he said he told them, “We’re not coming. We have a gig.” “Well, forget about your gig,” he recalls them responding. “We never forget about gigs,” he said. Evans said he wants to prove that even at his ripe age, he is “alive and well and the audience is wonderful and my dream is being fulfilled and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is happening all at the same time.”