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Photo: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
In deeply un-funky news, DJ Casper, creator of the “Cha Cha Slide,” is dead at the age of 58. His wife, Kim, told Chicago’s ABC News 7 that the DJ and hype man died on August 7 of cancer, after being diagnosed with kidney and neuroendocrine cancer in 2016. The artist, born Willie Perry Jr., began DJ-ing as a teenager and first wrote the track as a series of simple dance moves for his fitness-instructor nephew to teach at an aerobics class in 1998. Originally, Casper recorded his peppy instructions (“Reverse, reverse!”; “Take it back now, y’all”) over a sample of “Plastic Dreams,” by Jaydee. But as the song grew in popularity, he released a new version — the “Casper Slide Part 2” — over an original track, which he shouts out on the song as coming from “the Platinum Band.”
Released by Universal in 2000, the song and its accompanying line dance became a sensation, topping the UK Singles chart and becoming a mainstay of party playlists everywhere. Now, over 20 years later, the “Cha Cha Slide” is still ubiquitously associated with celebrations across cultures, from weddings and family reunions to Quinceaneras and Bar Mitzvahs. Over the years, he continued to perform the song at events, including cancer charity events, and told ABC7 earlier this year, “Anybody that’s going through cancer, know that you got cancer, and cancer don’t have you. So keep on doing the “Cha Cha Slide.”
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