The American singer-songwriter was best known for his cover of ‘The Twist’. Checker is the only recording artist to place five albums in the Top 12 at once. In 2008 Chubby Checker's ‘The Twist’ was named the biggest chart hit of all time by Billboard magazine.
Chubby Checker was born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina in 1941. He grew up in South Philadelphia. By the age of 11 Evans had formed a street corner harmony group. The storeowner of Fresh Farm Poultry, one of Ernest’s after school jobs, Henry Colt, was so impressed by Ernest's performances for the customers that he, with his colleague and friend Karl Mann, arranged for Ernest to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark.
Checker privately recorded a novelty single for Clark. 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 #38 in 1959. Checker introduced his version of "The Twist" in 1960 on ‘The Clay Cole Show’. "The Twist" went on to become the only single to top the Billboard Hot 100 twice, in two separate chart runs.
Checker also found success with a succession of up-tempo dance tracks including ‘The Hucklebuck’ (#14), ‘The Fly’ (#7), ‘Dance the Mess Around’ (#24), and ‘Pony Time’ (#1). Checker's follow-up "twist" single, ‘Let's Twist Again’, won the 1961 Grammy Award for Best Rock & Roll Solo Vocal Performance. A 1962 duet with Dee Dee Sharp, ‘Slow Twistin'’, reached #3. "Limbo Rock" reached #2 in 1962 and was Checker's last Billboard Top 10 hit.
Checker had a #1 single on Billboard's dance chart in July 2008 with "Knock Down the Walls". He also owns his own restaurant and continues to perform regularly.
http://chubbychecker.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chubby_Checker
James Francis (Frank) Pantridge
Professor Pantridge, MD, CBE, was an Irish cardiologist who developed the life-saving portable defibrillator. He found out that death occurred within the first hour for 60% of males (up to middle-age) that died from heart attack, and of these, 90% suffered ventricular fibrillation. In 1965, Pantridge equipped an ambulance with a portable defibrillator to enable the earliest possible treatment. It achieved a 50% long-term patient survival rate.
Pantridge was born in 1916 Born in Hillsborough, County Down. During WW II he served in the British Army and was awarded the Military Cross during the Fall of Singapore, when he became a POW. After his liberation he worked as a lecturer in the pathology department at Queen's University, and then won a scholarship to the University of Michigan. Pantridge returned to Northern Ireland in 1950, and was appointed as cardiac consultant to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and professor at Queen's University, where he remained until his retirement in 1982. He was awarded the CBE in 1978. Pantridge died on Dec 26, 2004.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Pantridge
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-frank-pantridge-488032.html
Alvin Toffler
Toffler is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communication revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. He is perhaps best known as the co-author of ‘Future Shock’. A former associate editor of ‘Fortune’ magazine, his early work focused on the impact of technology through effects like information overload. Then he moved to examining the effects of changes in society. His later focus has been on the increasing power of 21st century military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and capitalism.
Toffler was born October 3, (some sources say Oct. 4th) 1928. He is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. They live in Los Angeles. They wrote the books credited to "Alvin Toffler" together. Works include: ‘Future Shock’, ‘The Third Wave’, ‘Powershift’ and ‘War and Anti-War’. Their newest book, ‘Revolutionary Wealth’, attacks key features of conventional economics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler
http://www.alvintoffler.net/?fa=bios
Alvin Toffler Quotes
“Change is not merely necessary to life - it is life.”
“Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time.”
“It is better to err on the side of daring than the side of caution.”
“Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.”
“Our technological powers increase, but the side effects and potential hazards also escalate. “
“Technology feeds on itself. Technology makes more technology possible. “
“The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”
www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/alvin_toffler.html
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