Stephen King almost got divorced because of 'Mambo No.5'

Horror novelist Stephen King has revealed that the iconic 1990s track 'Mambo No. 5' nearly caused him to get a divorce.

The earworm of a song by Lou Bega was a global hit reaching number one in multiple countries.

It turns out it was also a firm favourite of the author, much to the annoyance of his wife, Tabitha, who King says was close to divorcing him over it.

Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine, King was asked about the rumours that he is a huge fan of the track.

King explained: “Oh, yeah. Big time. 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. And I played that thing until my wife just said, ‘One more time, and I’m going to f***ing leave you’.”

Larry French/Getty Images

At the time of 'Mambo No. 5', King remembered he was probably writing his critically acclaimed book 11/22/63.

The Shining author explained that listening to music is a big part of the writing process, and he particularly gravitates towards techno and disco music.

He revealed “But when I write, there are things that I can listen to a lot. 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. Fat Boy Slim is somebody else. I can just listen to that stuff.

“If you tried to write and listen to Leonard Cohen, how the f*** 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.”

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