DJ CASPER 1965-2023
Who was DJ Casper, “Cha Cha Slide” musician who has died at 58?
DJ Casper, whose hit “Cha Cha Slide” reached No. 1 in the UK charts two decades ago, has died after losing his battle with cancer.
Willie Perry Jr, the US musician better known as DJ Casper, has died at the age of 58 after a seven-year battle with cancer.
Creator of international sensation “Cha Cha Slide”
Perry, who also went by the artistic name Mr C the Slide Man, is best known for his hit single “Cha Cha Slide” - a track he initially wrote as an aerobics routine for his nephew, who worked as a personal trainer at a fitness club.
Originally recorded in 1998, “Cha Cha Slide” began to earn plays on Chicago’s WGCI-FM radio station in 2000, before being picked up by the musical label Universal Records, who released the song soon after.
It made it to 83 in the US’s Billboard Hot 100, before going on to international success - most notably in the UK, where it reached number one in 2004.
“I really didn’t expect the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’ to do what it did,” he told an interview with WTTW in 2018. “You’re always thinking about what can I do to make this person have fun, it just so happened the ‘Cha-Cha Slide’ made everyone have fun.”
That same year, “Cha Cha Slide” featured on the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black, with Perry making a cameo. The track has also made it onto the primetime US comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Watch - “Cha Cha Slide” on Orange is the New Black:
Perry given cancer diagnosis in 2016
Perry, who had already faced major health issues such as a detached retina and a brain aneurysm, was diagnosed with kidney and liver cancer in January 2016.
“Anybody that’s going through cancer, know that you have cancer and cancer does not have you,” Casper told ABC 7 in May this year. “So, keep on doing the ‘Cha Cha Slide.’”
The Chicago native revealed that his cancer was in remission in October 2019. However, it later returned, and his wife, Kim, this week announced that he succumbed to his illness on Monday.
“Casper was a fun-loving, giving person,” Kim told ABC 7 in a statement. “He was a genuine, family oriented man. He loved Chicago with all his heart. He will be greatly missed.”