Why Stephen King almost got divorced over Mambo No. 5
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There was a little bit too much of Monica — and Erica and Rita and Tina — in her life.
Horror novelist Stephen King revealed Tuesday that his love for Lou Bega’s 1999 hit “Mambo No. 5” nearly caused his wife, Tabitha, to divorce him.
“Oh, yeah. Big time,” said King, 75, to Rolling Stone magazine. “My wife threatened to divorce me. I played that a lot.”
The writer made the surprising revelation while promoting his brand new book, “Holly.”
“I had the dance mix,” continued “The Shining” author. “I loved those extended playthings, and I played both sides of it.”
“And one of them was just total instrumental,” continued King. “And I played that thing until my wife just said, ‘One more time, and I’m going to f–king leave you.'”
According to the interview, the author listened to the track while penning the critically acclaimed “11/22/63” which tells the story of a high school English teacher who goes back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
A rep for King told The Post that his wife was only joking about divorcing the author.
King also revealed that he loves listening to music when he writes.
“When I write, there are things that I can listen to a lot,” King told the publication. “And a lot of it is techno stuff or disco stuff, but techno in particular, there’s this group called LCD Soundsystem, and I love that.”
Originally released in 1949 by Cuban musician Dámaso Pérez Prado as a purely instrumental track, the dance hit was revitalized in 1999 when Lou Bega, a German singer, gave the song brand new lyrics.
The song mamboed to the top 3 songs on Billboard’s Top 100 despite being the number one song on every other chart.
Elsewhere in the interview, King revealed that he fully expects people to hate his new book due to the controversial nature of the topic.
“I think that a lot of people are not going to like it,” admitted King. “I think that a lot of people — particularly people on the other side of the Covid issue and the Trump issue — are going to give it one-star reviews on Amazon. But all I can say to those people is, ‘Knock yourself out.’”
“Holly”, a spinoff story of a character King introduced in his 2014 “Mr. Mercedes” series, tells the tale of the private investigator as she attempts to solve a string of disappearances during the height of Covid.
King’s latest book will be available for purchase on Amazon on Sept. 5.
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