Song:Work With Me Annie
Album:The Very Best of the Royals and the Midnighters
Hank Ballard was a Rock 'N' Roll pioneer as a performer and songwriter. Work With Me Annie was his first big hit in 1953. It was recorded as The Royals and they soon changed their name to The Midnighters and went on to have several more hits. He was born John Henry Kendricks Nov. 18, 1927 in Detroit. After his father died, Ballard and his brother were raised by an aunt and her husband in Bessemer, AL. He sang in church. Ballard was a big Gene Autry fan. He moved back to Detroit and worked on the Ford assembly line while looking to form a doo wop group. The Royals were formed in 1952 by guitarist Alonzo Tucker. At first they were called The Four Falcons but they changed it to The Royals as there was already a group called The Falcons. Among those who supposedly went through the group were Jackie Wilson and Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops. By 1952 the lineup was Tucker, Henry Booth, Charles Sutton, Sonny Woods and lead singer Lawson Smith. They were a doo wop group heavily influenced by The Orioles. Ballard and Woods became friends while working at Ford. When Smith was drafted into the military, Ballard replaced him. Johnny Otis saw them and got them a deal with the King Records label De Luxe. At first Sutton was The Royals lead singer. They released a few singles and King moved them to Federal Records. Ballard started writing songs and he became lead singer for the top ten R&B hit Get It. Then Work With Me Annie topped the R&B Singles chart and reached #22 on the pop charts. Then King changed the group name from The Royals to The Midnighters so they wouldn't be confused with another King act The 5 Royales. The FCC tried to ban Work With Me Annie for overtly sexual lyrics. That's why it only reached #22. Some radio stations refused to play it. Of course that meant teens liked it even more. Ballard says he was inspired to write Work With Me Annie by The Dominos hit Sixty Minute Man, another song the FCC tried to ban. Work With Me Annie sold a million copies and it was followed by Annie Had A Baby. So risque lyrics is what defined Ballard's songs at the time and that spiked record sales. Ballard's other big hit single was Finger Poppin' Time in 1960. And of course he wrote and recorded The Twist which became one of the biggest hits of all time when Dick Clark told Chubby Checker to imitate Ballard. Ballard continued to record and tour until his death on Mar. 2, 2003 at age 75. You can get all of Ballard's hits on this Collectables budget comp. Here's Hank Ballard performing Work With Me Annie on the 80s show Night Music.
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