Chubby Checker Waited 39 Years to Get Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here’s Why He’s Skipping the Ceremony

Chubby Checker is set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after nearly 40 years of eligibility this November — but he won’t be there.

The musician, 83, revealed at a recent concert that he’s choosing not to attend the Los Angeles ceremony this fall, as he’d rather play for his fans.

“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,’” Checker said in fan video shared to social media late last month and posted on Future Rock Legends. “So what she did [was], she got me a show. And the Rock Hall says, ‘We want you to come here this day and be here.’”

Checker continued, “I said, ‘We’re not coming.’ ‘You’re what?’ I said, ‘We’re not coming. We have a gig.’ ‘Well, forget about your gig.’ We never forget about gigs.”

“The Twist” singer, who does not have any official future concerts listed online, says he also wants to prove to any naysayers that he can still groove.

“Chubby goes to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They say, ‘He’s an old guy. He’s probably retired. He’s not doing anything. Maybe he has crutches and he’s coming to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to get his little award and go back home,’” Checker said. “I says, ‘No. Let’s be doing a show like I’m doing today to show I’m 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.”

Checker (né Ernest Evans) is best known for hits like “The Twist,” “The Fly,” “The Hucklebuck,” and more. He has been eligible for Rock Hall induction since the very first class in 1986, though 2025 marked his first nomination. He’ll be inducted alongside Cyndi Lauper, Outkast, Bad Company, the late Joe Cocker, Soundgarden and the White Stripes.

In a YouTube video uploaded by a fan, Checker appeared to stage his own Rock Hall induction ceremony, as he was presented with an award and gave a speech to a camera at a show in Des Plaines, Ill. on July 27.

“I thank all of my peers [that] have elected me, and all my wonderful fans. Over all this time I appreciate you so much. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I think you for making me a member of the family,” he said in the video. “When I go through Cleveland in the car, I’ll think totally differently than before, because a light has gone in my life. And when I go through Cleveland, I’ll just be illuminated by all the good things that has happened to me in my lifetime. I am so thankful. I appreciate it. And I can’t say how wonderful it isi that this has happened to me, and I’m alive to enjoy it.”

Checker won’t be the first artist to skip out on attending the Rock Hall induction ceremony. Paul McCartney did not attend when The Beatles were inducted in 1988, citing ongoing legal and business disputes with his former bandmates and record label, and neither did Axl Rose, who skipped his Guns N’ Roses induction in 2012.

In June, legendary session musician Carol Kaye — who was set to receive the Musical Excellence Award — declined her invitation to this year’s ceremony, writing in a deleted Facebook post that “it wasn’t something that reflects the work that Studio Musicians do and did in the golden ear of the 1960s Recording Hits.”

Kaye, 90, was a member of the Wrecking Crew in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and played bass for bands like the Beach Boys and the Monkees. In her post, she emphasized that she was always part of a “team” and “not a solo artist at all.” She also criticized the group’s name: “I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all….that’s a terrible insulting name.”

This year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will air live from Los Angeles on Nov. 8, and fans can stream it live on Disney+.