Chicago-based Willie Perry (aka Casper, aka Mr. C the Slide Man) spawned a regional dance craze with his infamous "Cha-Cha Slide," a dance anthem much in the spirit of more recognized anthems such as "Macarena" and "Electric Slide." As a personal trainer at Bally's, Perry developed a popular aerobic dance exercise based largely on his background as a stepper (he won Chicago's annual World's Largest Steppers Contest nine times). Years later, Chicago radio station WGCI joined forces with Perry to record a song for his dance; the station also helped promote the song with advertising and even went so far as to finance an instructional dance video. Soon the Chicago-based M.O.B. label joined the party and released the Cha-Cha Slide album, and after the song/dance became a minor phenomenon in Chicago, Universal Records picked up the album for national distribution. It dented the Billboard charts and became infamous in the Chicago area, but the "Cha-Cha Slide" remained largely a regional novelty. ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi
