Stephen King got so obsessed with listening to the very catchy song Mambo No. 5 that his wife threatened to divorce him.
Oh yes – in a headline that likely no one saw coming, the best-selling author has confessed that his ‘big time’ fandom of the Lou Bega tune almost drove a permanent wedge between him and his wife.
The It and Carrie writer, 75, many of whose books have been made into incredibly successful movies including The Shawshank Redemption, likes to listen to music while he’s writing, having cycled through artists as varied as Fat Boy Slim and Gloria Gaynor.
However, it’s Bega’s undeniable earworm (is it already playing in your head?) that caused a real headache for him and wife Tabitha, 74, a fellow author he’s been married to since 1971.
‘My wife threatened to divorce me. I played that a lot, I had the dance mix. I loved those extended play things, and I played both sides of it. And one of them was just total instrumental,’ he recalled.
‘I played that thing until my wife just said, “One more time, and I’m going to f***ing leave you,”’ he told Rolling Stone while promoting new book Holly.
It sounds like he decided that Tabitha was very much the gal for him over Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary – or even a little bit of Jessica…
Bega, 48, sampled the 1949 instrumental piece from Cuban musician Pérez Prado extensively for his 1999 hit that reached number one in multiple European countries, including the UK, and spent a whopping 20 weeks in the top spot in France.
It was nominated for a Grammy and became an absolute staple at parties and events.
King revealed that it was during his writing process for time travelling John F Kennedy book 11/22/63, published in 2011, that he was listening to Mambo No. 5.
He explained that there are some things that he can listen to a lot, mainly ‘techno stuff or disco stuff’, as he picked out LCD Soundsystem and Fat Boy Slim as among his past favourites.
‘If you tried to write and listen to Leonard Cohen, how the f**k would you do that? Because you’d have to listen to the words and you’d have to listen to what he’s saying. But with some of the techno stuff, or KC and the Sunshine Band, Gloria Gaynor, it’s all good,’ he added.
However, King – who has sharply divided fans before with his ‘terrifying’ microwave salmon recipe – also admitted that he doesn’t listen to music as much when he writes anymore.
‘I think it’s because I’ve slowed down a little bit, or the thought process is not as limber as it was when I was say 30, 35, that sort of thing. But I still do listen to it when I polish, when I rewrite, and I listen to a lot of loud rock & roll,’ he shared.
Last year, the iconic writer opened up on being sober for more than 30 years and how that has allowed him to live a ‘more spiritual’ and ‘more moral’ life.
King revealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, as part of BBC Radio 4’s The Archbishop Interviews series, that although he doesn’t fear the future, as he was ‘promised’ when he sobered up, there ‘are many parts of my past I’m sorry that I regret’.
‘There are things that I would do differently if I had a chance to go back,’ he shared.
‘And one of the things that I’m grateful for is that my grandchildren never saw me at my worst.’
With Tabitha, King is father to Joe Hill, 51, and Owen King, 46, both of whom he has called ‘very successful writers in their own ways’, as well as daughter Naomi, 53, who is a minister in the Universalist Church.
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