The man who had wedding guests and clubgoers dancing together doing the “Cha Cha Slide” has died.
DJ Casper was 58 years old.
Casper’s wife confirmed that the entertainer died after losing his battle with cancer, WLS reported.
The DJ was born William Perry Jr., according to Billboard. He told WLS in May during his last television interview that he was diagnosed with kidney and liver cancer in 2016.
In 2019, he had said that his cancer was in remission but eventually returned, Billboard reported.
Casper knew the impact his “Cha Cha Slide” had.
“I have one of the biggest songs that played at all stadiums: hockey, basketball, football, baseball; they played it at the Olympics,” Casper told WLS. “It was something that everybody could do.”
Originally it was called the “Casper Slide Pt. 1,″ with the DJ using his nickname from the all-white outfits he wore while performing, Billboard reported.
It was a simple way to get moving —“To the left/ Take it back y’all/ One hop this time/ Right foot, let’s stomp/ Left foot, let’s stomp/ Cha cha real smooth” — that he had come up with for his nephew’s aerobics class at Bally’s, where his nephew worked as a personal trainer, Variety reported.
“From there, it just took off. Elroy Smith from WGCI grabbed ahold of it,” Casper told WLS. Smith used a new version of the song, called “Casper Slide Pt. 2,″ in 2000 and started playing it in Chicago. It took off in 2004 when M.O.B. Records picked it up and eventually agreed with Universal Records to add to the album “Cha-Cha Side: The Original Slide Album,” Billboard reported.
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