Before his tragic passing, DJ Casper once admitted he was completely sick of his hit track, 'Cha Cha Slide' - though he wasn't sick of how much joy it continues to bring people far and wide.
Of course, it's not a party until you have this famous 2000s pop hit blasting through the speakers! With a few simple steps, hops and a ‘turn around’, there’s no doubt that the late DJ Casper’s 'Cha Cha Slide' is a winner on any dancefloor or any occasion.
That’s because it’s so easy to follow along that even the worst of dancers can look like a pro when doing the funky moves.
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But did you know that the impact of DJ Casper’s hit song did a lot more good than you may have thought?
Willie Perry Jr, otherwise known as DJ Casper, was a Chicago singer and DJ who had been making coming up with great tunes since he was a teenager.
In 1998, his nephew needed help putting together some steps for his aerobics class, which ultimately led to the creation of the classic bop.
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With simple lyrics over a sample of an old house song called ‘Plastic Dreams’ by Jaydee, the 'Casper Slide' was born.
Thankfully, his nephew was a big fan and so was DJ Casper, which led to him bringing the step song into the clubs.
But before partygoers could hear the track, he had to record a new version of the song with a band, because he wasn’t able to get the rights to use the Jaydee song.
“I went in and grabbed a live band,” he told Gizmodo. “That’s why [in the commercial release], you hear ‘This is something new: the Casper Slide Part 2, featuring the Platinum Band'.”
Once the song was recorded and up to scratch, it was an immediate favourite in clubs far and wide.
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“It just spread, it went crazy,” he recalled. “A lot of people are going out to the clubs and can’t dance, so they tend to sit there. But when they hear ‘The Cha Cha Slide’, they’ll get up and try that.”
"Records contact me, they wanted me to go on a tour and it started getting real crazy,” he told Chicago Tonight.
For years, DJ Casper travelled around the world, sharing his music and enjoying the whirlwind of fame, but the hype slowly died down.
Unfortunately, the DJ wasn’t able to make a comeback like he’d planned to earlier this year with Popworld Festival in Leeds, UK this month.
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He found out he had kidney and liver cancer in 2016, and after going into remission in 2019, it unfortunately took his life this week at the age of just 58.
Before the pop legend passed, he has discussed his thoughts on his hit song more than 20 years on, saying to Chicago Tonight: “I’ve gotten sick of the song a long time ago. But I don’t get sick of people enjoying themselves.”
He told ABC at the time: “Maybe in the process of me going through the cancer situation, that was God's way of just slowing me down just a little bit. But he kept me here for a reason, definitely for a reason.”
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Before he died, DJ Casper was optimistic about how his music could help people to get up and move.
He said: “If you have the disease that they call cancer and you feel that you can get up and do this dance, let's do it because that makes you feel better.”
"As long as you're keeping that positive mind like 'hey, we're gonna beat this, I'm gonna win', you know you can do it.”
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