| "The Cha Cha Slide" | |
|---|---|
| Single by DJ Casper | |
| from the album Cha-Cha Slide: The Original Slide Album | |
| Released | September 19, 2000 |
| Format | CD |
| Genre | Dance, electronica |
| Length | 3:46 |
| Label | MOB Music Publishing |
| Writer(s) | William Perry Jr.[1] |
| Producer | M. Thompson[1] |
The "Cha Cha Slide" is a song often played at dance clubs, school dances/proms, parties, skating rinks, bar mitzvahs and weddings in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom (the song reached number one in the latter country in 2004), created by Chicago's DJ Casper (Willie Perry aka Mr. C the Slide Man). The Cha Cha Slide is a contemporary American folk line dance with called instructions.
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Willie Perry Jr. wrote the lyrics for, and recorded his performance of, the original version of the Cha Cha Slide around April 1, 1998. The song was heavily inspired by the Chicago stepping movement. Around June 12, 1999, Perry recorded a second version of the song, entitled “Casper Slide Part 2,” at the home studio of Fred Johnson with the help of Hollywood Scott, band leader for the Platinum Band. Perry recorded and released the song at his own expense and manufactured copies and distributed them with the help of Gardner Douglas (“Cisco”), owner of the Cisco’s Music World record stores in Chicago, Illinois. The song was played at various night clubs and was used by Perry’s nephew, a fitness trainer at Bally Total Fitness Health Club in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, as the music for a step aerobics class.
Willie Perry enlisted the help of Jerome Haywood and M.O.B. Music Publishing (Men On Business) to produce, edit, and engineer the final version of the Cha Cha Slide Part 2. Men On Business also produced several other accompanying songs to produce the entire "Slide Album." The Slide Album consisted of: Cha-Cha Slide [Radio Edit] 3:46, Cha-Cha Slide [Club Edit] 7:44, Bus Stop/Electric Slide (Charles Green Hudson Beaudy) 4:45, Casper Cha-Cha Slide (Live Platinum Band) 6:27, Step To This (Colta) 5:29, Unworthy (Colta) 4:47, Unworthy (Colta) 4:25, Bus Stop[Original]/Electric Slide[Original] (Charles Green Hudson Beaudy) 7:55, DJ Eric-B Slide (D.J. Eric-B) 9:45, Step To This (Colta) 5:29, and R-U-Here (Colta). Willie Perry and Men On Business licensed the Slide Album to Universal Records and the album was released September 19, 2000. Once it was Universal's project, "we made some instructional 'Cha-Cha Slide' dance videos and distributed them to clubs," says Senior VP of Urban Promotion Michael Horton. "We also promoted the song at various black functions, such as homecoming events at black colleges." The song then made its made way to R&B/Hip-Hop station WGCI-FM in Mr. C's hometown of Chicago. The following year (2001), the dance caught on around Canada and the USA, where urban contemporary radio stations (and later mobile DJs) played the song continuously, particularly in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Arkansas, Memphis, and Detroit.
By 2003 the "Cha Cha Slide" was being played at urban venues and clubs in the Western United States. During NBA basketball games, the portion of the "Cha Cha Slide" where DJ Casper says "Everybody clap your hands" followed by the clapping synthesizer sounds are played on regular rotation when the home team has possession of the ball.
In 2004, the Cha Cha Slide was released in the UK and reached #1 on the UK charts.[2] Its success in the UK was helped by Scott Mills of BBC Radio One who pioneered the song on his weekday afternoon radio show. The song continues to be popular at primary and secondary school dance events in the UK.
In 2005, the Cha Cha Slide was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.[3]
During the 2006 NLCS, both the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals used part of the song to excite their crowds. Since then, other Major League Baseball teams, such as the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies and especially the New York Yankees, have also regularly used the song.
In 2007 McDonald's used the song in a television commercial in which a young boy dressed in old school hip hop fashion listens to the song while enjoying a meal with his family.
In 2009, the song served as the inspiration for Insane Clown Posse's "Chop Chop Slide", which appeared on the green cover variant and "Nuclear Edition" of the album Bang! Pow! Boom!.[4] Also in 2009, Crazy Frog released the "Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now.
On July 1st, 2011, the Cha Cha Slide launched a new website.[5] Also on July 1st, 2011, the official Cha Cha Slide Facebook Fan Page was launched[6]and a Twitter account was started.[7]
| Charts (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200[8] | 64 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[9] | 83 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B[10] | 24 |
| Charts (2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 1 |
| Artist | Title | Release Date | Certification Date | Label | Award Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. C The Slide Man | Cha-Cha Slide | Sept 19, 2000 | Nov 4, 2005 | Universal | Gold | Album |
| "The Cha Cha Slide" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Crazy Frog | ||||
| from the album Everybody Dance Now | ||||
| Released | 25 August 2009 | |||
| Format | CD single, digital download | |||
| Recorded | 2009 | |||
| Genre | Dance | |||
| Length | 3:03 | |||
| Label | MOB Music Publishing | |||
| Writer(s) | William Perry Jr.[1] | |||
| Producer | M. Thompson[1] | |||
| Crazy Frog singles chronology | ||||
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On August 25, 2009 Crazy Frog released "The Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now.
The song entered the French Singles Chart at number 19, and peaked to number 18.
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| France (SNEP)[12] | 18 |
| Preceded by "Toxic" by Britney Spears |
UK Singles Chart #1 Single March 14, 2004 - March 27, 2004 |
Succeeded by "Yeah!" by Usher featuring Ludacris & Lil' Jon |
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