b. John Kendricks, 18 November 1936, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 2 March 2003, Los Angeles, California, USA. His date of birth is disputed, and varies between 1927 and 1936. Ballard's truck-driving father died when he was seven years old and he was sent to Bessemer, Alabama, to live with relations. The strict religious and gospel upbringing caused him to run away, and by the age of 15, Ballard was working on an assembly line at Ford Motors in Detroit. His cousin, Florence Ballard, became a member of the Detroit girl group the Supremes. Hank Ballard's singing voice was heard by Sonny Woods of the Royals, who was amused by his mixture of Jimmy Rushing and Gene Autry. He was asked to replace frontman Lawson Smith during the latter's army service. The Royals, who also included Henry Booth and Charles Sutton, had been recommended to King Records by Johnny Otis and had previously recorded "Every Beat Of My Heart", later an R&B hit for Gladys Knight And The Pips.

Listen to Hank Ballard at Finetune.

• (1993)  The Best of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters

• Finger Poppin' Time
• Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go
• The Twist
• Work With Me Annie
• Annie Had a Baby

• Elvis Presley
• Fats Domino
• Buddy Holly
• Jerry Lee Lewis
• Little Richard
• The Drifters
• Chuck Berry
• Bobby Darin
• The Coasters
• The Everly Brothers
• Roy Orbison
• Johnny Burnette
• Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers
• Eddie Cochran
• Lloyd Price
• The Platters
• Duane Eddy
• Little Anthony & The Imperials
• Gene Vincent
• Carl Perkins

• HelgaPataki
• formsetter
• hughley
• 1stshagger
• whitebobcat
• lastcrazyhorn
• stormoak