Songfacts®:

• The Twist was all the rage when Joey Dee & The Starliters recorded "Peppermint Twist" in 1961. They were a group of guys from New Jersey who landed a gig as the house band at the Peppermint Lounge, a New York City nightclub that received worldwide attention when celebrities were photographed doing the popular dance at the venue. Thanks to the publicity, Dee was offered recording contracts from four different labels. He knew he had to strike while the iron was hot before the fad went out of style, so he chose the label that promised a speedy single release: Roulette Records.
  
  Written by Joey Dee and producer Henry Glover, "Peppermint Twist" invited dancers to visit the famous hotspot at West 45th St. and bust their moves, going "'round and 'round and up and down, and a one two three kick, one two three jump." The single was a huge hit, unseating Chubby Checker's chart-topping rendition of "The Twist."
• The Starliters had bad weather to thank for their good fortune. The night before the Peppermint Lounge hit headlines for its famous guests twisting the night away on the dance floor, actress Merle Oberon - known for starring in films like Wuthering Heights (1939) and A Song To Remember (1945) - was in town to see a Broadway show. Afterward, she sought refuge from the elements at the nearby club with her friends in tow, including society columnist Cholly Knickerbocker. Joey Dee recalled in a 2020 Spotlight Central interview:
  
  "They sat down at a table, and at the time, I was doing Hank Ballard's version of 'The Twist,' which was a big part of our show. That's when the waitresses would start dancing - and this is where the term 'go-go girls' came from - because they became dancing go-go girls. And Merle Oberon got up to dance with the kids who were there in the audience that night and Cholly Knickerbocker wrote about it the next day in the newspaper and all hell broke loose."
  
  The following night, hordes of people descended upon the club and had to be kept in line by barricades and mounted police. Celebrity regulars included Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, Nat King Cole, Shelley Winters, Liberace, Truman Capote, John Wayne, and Jackie Kennedy, among others.
• Sam Cooke was inspired by footage of dancers at the Peppermint Lounge and wrote "Twistin' The Night Away."
• This was recorded live at the Peppermint Lounge. With a runtime of 4:05, it was considered too long for radio play, so it was chopped into two parts for the single release, with the mostly instrumental second half as its B-side.
• The Starliters continued to capitalize on the Twist craze and their association with The Peppermint Lounge. In 1961, they starred in the movie Hey, Let's Twist, a highly fictionalized account of their rise to fame. The accompanying soundtrack gave them their next big hit, a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout." The following year, they starred in Two Tickets To Paris, which yielded the Top 20 entry "What Kind Of Love Is This."
• The group went through many personnel changes, but their most famous lineup consisted of Joey Dee (lead vocals), David Brigati (lead vocals), Larry Vernieri (vocals), Sam Taylor (guitar), Willie Davis (drums), and Carlton Lattimore (organ). They also had some prominent guests join them throughout the years, including future Rascals members Felix Cavaliere, Eddie Brigati, and Gene Cornish; jazz Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers; and Jimi Hendrix.
  
  Actor Joe Pesci also played guitar in the band for a short time in the '60s. In fact, his first film role was playing a dancer in the Starliters' movie Hey, Let's Twist - he can be spotted mugging for the camera while Dee sings "Peppermint Twist."
• The Beatles opened for The Starliters when the Peppermint Lounge mainstays were playing in Stockholm, Sweden, during their European tour in 1963. "I was so impressed by them that I threw a party for the cast after the show," Dee told Spotlight Central. "I invited everybody to our hotel - The Hotel Foresta - and The Beatles came. John Lennon didn't stay too long, but the other three Beatles did - they stayed until we all got drunk and happy! It was a great, great evening and that's when they promised me they were coming to the States and said, 'We're gonna come to the Peppermint Lounge,' and they did."
• This was also used in these TV shows:
  
  The Sopranos ("Chasing It" - 2007)
  The Practice ("Cause Of Action" - 2003)
  The Simpsons ("The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" - 1997)
  
  And these movies:
  
  Not Fade Away (2012)
  Speaking Of Sex (2001)
  Andre (1994)
  American Graffiti (1973)