Biography:

Willie Perry Jr. (May 31, 1965 – August 7, 2023), better known as DJ Casper (also known as Mr. C The Slide Man), was an American DJ, hype man, and songwriter.^[2] Born and raised in Chicago, he is known as “Casper” due to frequently being clad in all white attire on stage.^[3]

Career

Perry’s first hit record, “Casper Slide Pt. 1” – also known as “Cha Cha Slide” – was created by Perry for his nephew, who worked as a personal trainer at a Bally Total Fitness in 1998. After the song grew in popularity as an aerobic exercise at fitness clubs and PE in schools, Casper created a second song in 2000, titled “Casper Slide Pt. 2”, which was picked up by Elroy Smith at Chicago’s radio station, WGCI-FM.

The song became a hit in Chicago in 2004, when the city’s M.O.B. Records record label became involved as well, helping Perry create a whole compilation album with other Chicago-based artists to promote the dance. “Cha Cha Slide” was later picked up by Universal Records.

In January 2016, Perry Jr. was diagnosed with kidney cancer and neuroendocrine cancer.^[4][5] After unsuccessful surgery the same month, he began chemotherapy.^[5] In an interview in July 2018, he stated he was in remission.^[6] In 2019, Perry stated that he beat his liver and kidney cancers and said he is a changed man, stating “that was God’s way of just slowing me down just a little bit.”^[7]

Perry makes an appearance as a DJ in a season 6 episode of Orange Is the New Black, in Crazy Eyes’ hallucination of the prisoners and guards line dancing to the Cha Cha Slide.^[8]

Death

Perry died of kidney and liver cancer on August 7, 2023, at the age of 58.^[9] [10]

Credits: