Was DJ Casper suffering from cancer? What happened to the musician? Learn all there is to know.
DJ Casper, the Chicago artist whose early 2000s hit “Cha Cha Slide” caused a worldwide sensation, has died after years living with kidney and liver cancer. He was 58 years old.
Born Willie Perry, Jr., in Chicago, where he lived until his death, DJ Casper created “Cha Cha Slide” as an aerobic exercise for his nephew, recording the first version in 1998 by MCing the workout instructions over Jaydee’s house classic “Plastic Dreams.”
The song caught on around Chicago, prompting DJ Casper to compose a new version, released in 2000, initially called “Casper Slide Part 2.” Casper said the track quickly took off and he got requests to perform it at local clubs and parties, according to WBEZ. Chicago’s WGCI-FM radio station aired the song in 2000 before it was eventually picked up by Universal Records. “I really didn’t expect the ‘Cha Cha Slide’ to do what it did,” Casper said in an interview with Chicago’s PBS station WTTW in 2018.
“Everything hit all at once, Universal Records contact me, they wanted me to go on a tour and it started getting real crazy.”It spread through the United States and, in 2004, became a UK No. 1, helped along by a video in which amateur and professional dancers from various religions and backgrounds unite in the routine.
When was DJ Casper diagnosed with cancer?
Perry was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, and his wife confirmed his death Monday in a statement to WLS-TV.
“Casper was a fun-loving, giving person,” his wife, Kim, said in the statement. “He was a genuine, family oriented man. He loved Chicago with all his heart. He will be greatly missed.” Casper had already overcome earlier health struggles including a brain aneurysm aged 22 and eye surgery for detached retinas.
He announced in 2019 that his cancer was in remission, but it later returned. He recently told Chicago’s ABC7 news channel: “Anybody that’s going through cancer, know that you have cancer and cancer does not have you.”
More News:
• IS ADRIENE MISHLER PREGNANT? DOES THE YOGA INSTRUCTOR HAVE ANY CHILDREN?
• WHO KILLED JOHN LENNON? WHY WAS HE KILLED?
• IS CHARLOTTE HEGELE PREGNANT? IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THE RUMOUR?
