"Peppermint Twist" is a song written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover

Henry Glover

Henry Glover was an American songwriter, arranger, record producer and trumpet player. In the music industry of the time, Glover was one of the more successful, and influential, black executives. He gained eminence in the late 1940s, primarily working for the independent King label...

, recorded and released by Joey Dee and the Starliters

Joey Dee and the Starliters

Joey Dee and The Starliters is an American popular music team. Best known for their successful million-selling recording "Peppermint Twist" , the group was initiated by Joey Dee.-Early singles:...

 in 1961. Capitalizing on the Twist

Twist (dance)

The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed...

 dance craze and the nightclub in which Dee performed ("The Peppermint Lounge

Peppermint Lounge

The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated....

"), the song hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in early 1962. The original recording of the song was considered too long for release on a 45 rpm single, so it was split into two parts. It was this first part, "Peppermint Twist (Part 1)" which became the No. 1 hit; the mostly instrumental second half of the recording is rarely heard today.

"Peppermint Twist" replaced Chubby Checker

Chubby Checker

Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...

's "The Twist

The Twist (song)

"The Twist" is a twelve bar blues song that gave birth to the Twistdance craze. The song was written and originally released in 1959 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side but his version was only a moderate 1960 hit, peaking at 28 on the Billboard Hot 100...

," the song that sparked the Twist craze, at the number one position. A version by Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...

 was recorded for Armed Forces Radio in 1962, but was not released until 2000.

The lead singer in the Starliters' version is David Brigati

David Brigati

David Brigati is an American singer.-Hi-Fives:David got his musical start as the lead singer of a doo-wop group known as the Hi-Fives. In 1958, the group recorded a number of songs on the Decca label. One of those recordings was entitled "Dorothy" and became a regional hit in the New York...

, whose brother, Eddie Brigati

Eddie Brigati

Eddie Brigati is an American singer and songwriter.Most memorably, Brigati shared vocals, and played tambourine, in the pop group The Young Rascals from 1965 to 1970...

, was a singer for the '60s hit pop group, the (Young) Rascals.

The song was later covered by Dee Dee Sharp

Dee Dee Sharp

Dee Dee Sharp is an American R&B singer, who began her career recording as a backing vocalist in 1961.-Career:...

, the classic rock

Classic rock

Classic rock is a radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format features music ranging generally from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, primarily focusing on the hard rock genre that peaked in popularity in the...

 band Sweet

Sweet (band)

Sweet was a British rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s as one of the most prominent glam rock acts, with the classic line-up of lead vocalist Brian Connolly, bass player Steve Priest, guitarist Andy Scott, and drummer Mick Tucker.Sweet was formed in 1968 and achieved their first...

 (on their 1974 album, Sweet F.A.), et al.

In popular culture

The Joey Dee and the Starliters

Joey Dee and the Starliters

Joey Dee and The Starliters is an American popular music team. Best known for their successful million-selling recording "Peppermint Twist" , the group was initiated by Joey Dee.-Early singles:...

 recording features in the film American Graffiti

American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a 1973 coming of age film co-written/directed by George Lucas starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat, Charles Martin Smith, Cindy Williams, Candy Clark, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford...

(1973).