Trivia

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in 1990.

Created "The Twist," the dance craze of the '60s. The social changes among the sexes and the older generations brought forth by "The Twist" and its many offshoots--like "The Mashe Potatoes", "The Monkey",and "The Frug"--are immeasurable. Heretofore, males who had difficulty with the dance steps of "The Lindy" would often "sit one out" while their girlfriends danced together . Now they could buy records that they could dance to as well. These dances were also adopted by older generations in nightclubs worldwide, giving "R n R" a fan base, beyond the "teenage years".

Cousin of Florence Ballard.

His major vocal inspiration during his formative years was the "Singing Cowboy", Gene Autry, and in particular, his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again".

He had some upbeat releases in the mid-1970s, including "Hey There Sexy Lady" and "Let's Go Streaking", as well as a beat ballad, "Love On Love".

Ballard was the great-uncle of NFL player Christian Ballard, and was a cousin of original Supremes member Florence Ballard.

Ballard also appeared on Brown's 1972 album Get on the Good Foot, on two tracks, "Recitation By Hank Ballard", that features Ballard describing Brown and the album, and "Funky Side of Town", in duet, with James Brown.

In 1990, Ballard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the other Midnighters were inducted in 2012.

Hank Ballard was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of the Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an integral part in the development of the genre, releasing the hit singles "Work with Me, Annie" and answer songs "Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie" with his Midnighters.

Between 1959 and 1961 Hank Ballard and the Midnighters had several more both on the R&B and Pop charts, starting with "Teardrops on Your Letter", a number 4 R&B hit in 1959, that had as its B-side the Ballard-written song "The Twist". A few months later, Chubby Checker's cover version of the song went to number 1 on the Hot 100 chart. It would return to the top of the charts again in 1962 - the only song in the rock and roll era to reach number 1 in two different non-consecutive years.

In 1979, he had moderate success with the disco number, "Freak Your Boom-Boom".

James Brown produced Ballard's 1969 album You Can't Keep a Good Man Down.

After the Midnighters disbanded, Ballard launched a solo career. His 1968 single, "How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven't Cut Your Process Yet)", was his biggest post-Midnighters hit, peaking at number 15 on the R&B chart.

In 2010, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame.

In 1953, Ballard joined doo-wop group the Royals, which had previously been discovered by Johnny Otis and signed to Federal Records (a division of King Records), in Cincinnati.

Brother of Dove Ballard.