Editing Hank Ballard (section)

==Hank Ballard and the Midnighters==
{{main|The Midnighters}}
[[File:Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, 1982-05-11b.jpg|thumb|upright|Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, 1982]]
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 (USA)|King Records]]), in [[Cincinnati]]. Ballard joined Henry Booth, Charles Sutton, Sonny Woods and Alonzo Tucker in the group, replacing previous singer Lawson Smith.

The Royals released "Get It" (1953), an R&B song with possibly sexually oriented lyrics, which some radio stations refused to play,<ref name=nite>Nite, Norm N. ''Rock On: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock n' Roll (The Solid Gold Years)''. Thomas Y. Crowell (1974), pp. 428–29. {{ISBN|0-690-00583-0}}.</ref> although it still made it to number 6 on the US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|R&B]] [[record chart|chart]].

The group then changed its name to the Midnighters to avoid confusion with [[the "5" Royales]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Ward|first=Ed|date=2016|title=The History of Rock & Roll, volume one, 1920–1963|location=New York|publisher=Flatiron Books|page=65|isbn=978-1-250-07116-3|author-link=Ed Ward (writer)}}</ref> In 1954, Ballard wrote a song called "[[Work with Me, Annie]]" that was drawn from "Get It".<ref name=nite/> It became the Midnighters' first major R&B hit, spending seven weeks at number 1 on the R&B chart and also selling well in mainstream markets, along with the [[answer song]]s "[[Annie Had a Baby]]" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie"; all were banned by the FCC from radio air play.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-midnighters/bio/|title=The Midnighters Biography|access-date=January 12, 2013|archive-date=July 17, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717214540/http://rockhall.com/inductees/the-midnighters/bio/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their third major hit was "Sexy Ways", a song that cemented the band's reputation as one of the most risqué groups of the time.<ref name="nite"/>

They had four other R&B chart hits in 1954–55, but no others until 1959, by which time the group was billed as "Hank Ballard and The Midnighters" with their label changed from Federal to King, the parent label. Between 1959 and 1961 they 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 [[A-side and B-side|B-side]] the Ballard-written song "[[The Twist (song)|The Twist]]". A few months later, [[Chubby Checker]]'s [[cover version]] of the song went to number 1 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]] chart. It would return to the top of the charts again in 1962<ref name=pc20>{{Gilliland|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19770/m1/|title=Show 20 – Forty Miles of Bad Road: Early '60s potpourri |show=20|track=2}}</ref> – the only song in the rock and roll era to reach number 1 in two different non-consecutive years.

Ballard and the Midnighters had several other hit singles in the early 1960s, including the Grammy-nominated "[[Finger Poppin' Time]]" (1960) and "[[Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go]]" (1960) which hit number 7 and number 6, respectively, on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' pop chart. They did not reach the charts again after 1962 and dissolved in 1965.