Feelabeelia: One-Hit Wonder? Snap Classic

Hold onto your mullets! British drummer Nick Murphy and his band are overjoyed after signing a record deal with THE Quincy Jones in 1984. That is, until a chance encounter with one of the biggest stars in the world changes everything. And the story of a talented luchador who has an uphill battle to get the crowd and the press on his side. STORIES Feelabeelia: One-Hit Wonder? Hold onto your mullets! British drummer Nick Murphy and his band are overjoyed after signing a record deal with THE Quincy Jones in 1984. That is, until a chance encounter with one of the biggest stars in the world changes everything. Major thanks to Nick Murphy for sharing your story with Snap. Nick still lives in Leicester today and he’s continuing to make his dreams come true as one of the oldest students at De Montfort University, where he studies music technology. Produced by Regina Bediako, original score by Clay Xavier, artwork by Teo Ducot. Cassandro El Exotico Cassandro is an up-and-coming luchador, a professional Mexican wrestler. He wants to get to the big arenas. He’s got the talent, no doubt. But because he’s also one of the only openly gay fighters, he’s got an uphill battle to get the crowd and the press on his side. This story contains graphic imagery regarding suicide. Please take care while listening. Thank you for sharing your story, Cassandro! Produced by Eliza Smith, sound design by Leon Morimoto. Season 17 – Episode 38 Join Snap+ https://snap.supercast.com/if you aren't already a member! Get bonus eps every month, an ad-free stream and more. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices https://dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

• 0:07Speaker 00

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• 1:10Speaker 01

  I like to cook, right? Lots of things, but I'm known for my chili. With some cornbread, it is all of that. I've got a friend who's all, This recipe you sent me is missing something. It doesn't taste like yours. I'm gonna watch you make it. Okay. So I start with the onions, the kidney beans, tomatoes, the garlic, the ground beef, if you like it. Add some chili powder. I tell her, the secret is to use a little bit of brown sugar. She says, stop playing with me. Everybody knows about brown sugar. Okay, well, you gotta lightly simmer it. Don't cook it too fast.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  You know, gotta get some salt and some pepper to bring the flavor out. And she's getting angrier and angrier at my antics. And the truth is, she has a point. And I'm wrong for this. I am a very bad person. But every good chef saves a couple secrets back. The magic that can turn something delicious into something extraordinary. So when I ask her to, please pull me a beer from the fridge, she doesn't see me add a couple heaping tablespoons of my ploy green Thai curry paste to the bubbling beans.

• 2:37Speaker 01

  But a few minutes later, when she tastes it, she screams bloody murder at the top of her lungs. What did you do? What did you do?

• 2:57Speaker 01

  The band's snap judgment. We're looking for that extra ingredient, that special something that turns the mundane into the sublime. Snap proudly presents Feelabeelia. I live in Washington and you should never act innocent to people who are holding kitchen knives when you're listening to Snap Judgment.

• 3:31Speaker 01

  Now, we're gonna begin by sticking your tunes into the cassette deck of The DeLorean. Because we're traveling back to 1984. Nick Murphy is a man with big hair and bigger dreams. He and his funk band have just signed a Cinderella deal with Warner Brothers and the Quincy Jones. We're gonna drop another recording session at a studio deep in the English countryside. Take it away, Nick. Snap Judgment.

• 4:02Speaker 02

  We're working on this track, Feel It, one Saturday. And we get a call on the studio phone.

• 4:11Speaker 03

  Okay, pause. I need you to fully appreciate the moment that we're in before we can go any further.

• 4:23Speaker 03

  It's 1984, AKA the most prolific year in modern music history. If this band were to put down their instruments and turn on the radio, the newest hits, like from the last six months, would be Time After Time, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Born in the USA, What's Love Got To Do With It, Chameleon, When Doves Cry, and literally 100 more tunes that will go certified platinum in approximately 2.5 seconds and reach the highest echelons of notoriety in the Pop Culture Hall of Fame for decades to come.

• 5:05Speaker 03

  Technology is on a tear. You don't have to be a millionaire to get your hands on a sweet synthesizer. Phil Collins is giving us the quintessential sound of the 80s, gated reverb drums.

• 5:19Speaker 03

  And the music video for a little song called Thriller is single-handedly putting the heretofore struggling MTV on the map.

• 5:30Speaker 03

  In 1984, the music industry is living it up. It's a nonstop party where nobodies with mullets are becoming somebodies with mullets overnight. And Nick and his friends in the studio, they have just been ushered behind the metaphorical velvet rope.

• 5:50Speaker 02

  I was a bin man. I used to do the dustbins, you know, the trash.

• 5:54Speaker 03

  They're not used to rubbing elbows with elites. But soon, everyone would know their name.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  Feelabeelia?

• 6:01Speaker 03

  Yeah, Feelabeelia.

• 6:04Speaker 02

  They said, what does it mean? I said, absolutely nothing. I said, that's perfect.

• 6:09Speaker 03

  Because worldwide success doesn't have to make sense. Not in 1984.

• 6:16Speaker 03

  Okay, now that you're caught up, let's get back to that studio in the English countryside.

• 6:26Speaker 02

  We're working on this track, Feel It, one Saturday. And we get a call on the studio phone.

• 6:34Speaker 03

  Nick put down his drumsticks and picked up the receiver.

• 6:38Speaker 02

  This guy goes, hi, I'm so, so, I'm Stevie Wonder's manager.

• 6:42Speaker 03

  Superstition, isn't she lovely? Higher ground. And by that point, 12 Grammys to his name. That's Stevie Wonder.

• 6:53Speaker 02

  I was a bit like, is this a hoax? That's the first thing I thought. Is it one of my mates rang me up? And I said, yeah, this is Isaac Hayes. And the guy goes, no, no, no, I really am Stevie Wonder's manager. Steve is doing a show tonight at the Birmingham NEC. Afterwards, he says, Stevie would like to come and record at the studio.

• 7:16Speaker 03

  Stevie was in the middle of a huge UK tour. But he was also on deadline to finish up a new song for the soundtrack of an upcoming movie. And those soundtracks could be crazy lucrative. Remember that searing 1984 romantic thriller Against All Odds? Of course you don't. Nobody does. But what does live rent-free in your brain is the Phil Collins mega hit Take A Look At Me Now from the soundtrack. That song, Minted Money, nabbed a Grammy nomination and is currently being belted out in a karaoke bar somewhere in the world at this very moment. Stevie's manager had asked around and found out that the studio Feelabeelia was using

• 7:59Speaker 03

  had the exact same equipment Stevie used at home. Could Stevie and his band just borrow the studio for a few hours?

• 8:07Speaker 02

  So I turned around to the lads in the studio and I said to them, what do you reckon? And they all said, if it really is Stevie, yeah, no problem. If he comes, then we just meet him. Even if it's just hello and that's it. And then, security, don't let us anywhere near him, you know, whatever. You know, that's worth it. So we said, yeah, you know, come.

• 8:29Speaker 03

  And Nick settled in for one of the longest waits of his life.

• 8:34Speaker 02

  I'll be honest with you. From about 8 o'clock that evening, every minute seemed like about an hour. We sort of half-recording, half-mess-around, you know, playing soccer in the garden and stuff.

• 8:47Speaker 03

  They drifted between the recording studio and the garden, unable to focus on anything but the clock.

• 8:55Speaker 02

  About 10 o'clock, we were snacking, I suppose, really, and just having a few beers. What do you reckon? Jacking it up? And we were all like, you know what? Yeah, I do.

• 9:05Speaker 03

  Now that they were signed to one of the biggest record labels in the world, yes, anything was possible. When Quincy Jones and Warner Brothers first brought them to LA, they ran into Whitney Houston.

• 9:17Speaker 02

  Whitney?

• 9:18Speaker 03

  But this wouldn't be just another celebrity sighting. To Nick, stars didn't come any bigger or brighter than Stevie Wonder.

• 9:27Speaker 02

  Stevie Wonder to myself, absolute hero. My father was a jazz pianist. But since I was 14, 15 and stuff, my dad used to play You Are The Sunshine Of My Life in his band. I used to play for my dad's band when his drummer was on holiday. Not knocking anyone, they were all good. They were all really good. But they all, they didn't set the sights high enough for me. I want the world, you know?

• 9:54Speaker 03

  All this was turning around in Nick's mind as the night stretched on.

• 9:59Speaker 02

  About quarter past 1:00 or something in the morning, all of a sudden, you could hear this engine outside. Because the studio was about three miles out of Farnham. So it literally was in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere. It was an old farm. There's no other traffic at that time of night down that road.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  The other inhabitants of the farm were on high alert.

• 10:21Speaker 02

  The farm had geese. And they all start, because they didn't recognize anyone. Yeah, they're better than, like, better than any guard dogs, geese are. We go out the front door and it's like a big drivey bit with all pebbles and stuff on it. We were expecting Stevie Wonder in a car with maybe his manager or something. We weren't expecting a coach to be out there, with about 50 people on. Because it was all of the people that were on tour with Stevie. So they all just exit the coach and descend into the grounds and then descend into the house, into the kitchen.

• 10:58Speaker 03

  And then, as if conjured out of thin air, he appeared.

• 11:05Speaker 02

  And then it was like Stevie came in. He said, evening, gentlemen, like that. And he sort of said it in a sort of British accent. He was bigger than I expected. He's about the same build as me, about 6'1", 6'2", something like that. He's in a gray tracksuit and he's looking, yeah, he's looking fit, man. You know, like, bumting, as we say over here.

• 11:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, music. Yeah, someone said bum team. That's like, yeah, yeah, hench. You're looking good. We were like just gobsmacked, you know, just like, oh my God, you know, it really has happened. You know, it's one of those things.

• 11:46Speaker 02

  They said, we'll be gone by the morning. And we said, we don't care if you stay a weekend. We're not bothered.

• 11:51Speaker 03

  They gave Stevie space to do his thing in the studio and went to hang out in another part of the building.

• 11:58Speaker 02

  So we were now in the kitchen with the rest of the band. We met Wonderlove. Wonderlove is Stevie's backing singer. They're just amazing singers and they've worked with him forever. We were just having a good time, you know, just listening to tracks and drinking and they were all, you know, wide awake. They weren't tired. So we're partying in the kitchen. And then Stevie comes in with his manager. And one of the guys is eating some cake and Stevie's like, who's got the cake like this? Right? Uh, it was like, oh, you want some? So one of the guys cuts him a piece, gives him a bit of cake. And then he wanted to go to the bathroom.

• 12:44Speaker 02

  And it was like, oh, someone said, I'll show you. He goes, I already know where it is. He said, I can spell where it is. He comes back into the kitchen and then he goes back to the studio. Uh, and we saw our chance and thought, let's go and have a look, see what he's doing. So myself, Mark and Andy, who was the keyboard player and the singer, we sort of followed them back in.

• 13:05Speaker 03

  A producer had rolled up the sleeves on his members only jacket and his fingers were flying over a mixing board.

• 13:11Speaker 02

  And yeah, the player room, you could have had 10 people in there and yeah, the producer and that sitting at the desk. And then everyone else is around them from the back.

• 13:21Speaker 03

  Stevie was in the recording studio, sitting at, where else? The piano.

• 13:27Speaker 02

  They'd already done his recording. They were just listening back to it, listening back to it.

• 13:45Speaker 03

  And the track that Stevie was singing? I just called to say I love you.

• 13:51Speaker 02

  I just couldn't believe how great Stevie Wonder's voice is, even though I've got all of his albums. They solo the vocal so you could just hear him. And you hear this voice come and it's just like, you know, like it's perfect pitch, perfect control, no technology on it, just a pure voice.

• 14:15Speaker 03

  As the producers continued to play back the song, Nick took a closer listen.

• 14:21Speaker 02

  The music is

• 14:29Speaker 02

  And I was thinking, how cheesy is that? I thought, no, you know, like surely he's having a laugh like, you know, uh, no, sure enough. If you listen to it, duh, duh, duh, at the end. And it just reminds me of my dad used to do these gigs and it would be for people dancing, you know? Honestly, I couldn't get over it.

• 14:48Speaker 03

  Nick knew what he had to do. He took a deep breath, cleared his throat and told Stevie exactly how cheesy he thought the song was.

• 15:00Speaker 03

  No, I'm just playing. Oh, you didn't believe me, did you? Nick didn't have a death wish for his career. He kept his mouth shut. Even though he did kind of have a point about that.

• 15:15Speaker 03

  When the producers were done with the song, Stevie came back into the control room to debrief with the members of Feelabeelia.

• 15:22Speaker 02

  And then Stevie said, so, uh, what are you guys doing? Yeah, I'd like to hear some of yours.

• 15:28Speaker 03

  Nick's eyebrows shot up. They could play Feel It, their soon to be debut single. It was one of the tracks that had gotten them their record deal with Quincy Jones.

• 15:46Speaker 02

  Stevie listens to it and, you know, he's nodding and tapping and yeah, so I thought, oh, he likes the beat anyway. So that's my job done because I'm the drummer.

• 15:57Speaker 02

  And, uh, no, he liked it. He liked Mark's voice. He said, yeah, the guy's got a good, strong voice. But it could do with like a middle eight bit, right? Just needs something just to break, break it up and then come back out again. Uh, it just needs something, yeah. And I said, well, do it then.

• 16:25Speaker 01

  Oh, you heard that, right?

• 16:28Speaker 01

  Nick just told his hero Stevie Wonder to come up with a little something for his song. Like he said it to the man's face, didn't even say, please, will we return? How will Stevie respond? Stay tuned.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment, the Feelabeelia episode. When last we left, aspiring funk band Feelabeelia happened to find themselves in the same studio as international superstar Stevie Wonder.

• 17:16Speaker 01

  Now Stevie's just listened to their debut track. And Nick the drummer, he has the gall to suggest to Stevie, to Stevie that he adds some of his magic. How dare he?

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Snap Judgment.

• 17:33Speaker 02

  I'm like that all the time. I cut to the chase, you know? But no, it was a bit cheeky. I do admit it was a bit cheeky to, you know, ask the biggest star in the world.

• 17:44Speaker 03

  Yeah, it was cheeky. But also unintentionally strategic.

• 17:50Speaker 02

  I just thought he probably wouldn't say anything or ignore that he'd even heard me say it. And he went, yeah, okay.

• 17:59Speaker 02

  I was surprised by his answer, I think, more than anything. Then he said to his manager, get the girls in.

• 18:05Speaker 03

  That's when Nick realized Stevie had taken him seriously.

• 18:10Speaker 02

  So his manager went, got Wonderlove, brought them into the studio. And they sat around this piano and he's singing this bit and playing the piano. And he's giving them all of the bits to do. Uh, and it's a fantastic harmony thing. Uh, yeah, like only Stevie could have thought of it. I'm sure about that. And then they proceed to record onto a piece of the track. This part sounds like it was written in the track when we wrote it. I don't know how he did it without splicing or doing anything. It was just like perfect.

• 18:49Speaker 02

  And then he goes, probably a solo as well or something. I went, well, you know, and he went, yeah, okay. I think he was getting used to me by then.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  He got his harmonica out and he proceeded to put one of his trademark solos onto our track.

• 19:16Speaker 02

  Then he played it all back again, listened to the old thing, listened to his solo. He was happy with what they'd done.

• 19:24Speaker 02

  We were in disbelief in what they'd done.

• 19:28Speaker 03

  And what Stevie had done was give Feelabeelia an amazing gift. Signed, sealed and delivered. But all fairy tales have to come to an end. The clock was about to strike midnight. Well, actually seven in the morning.

• 19:44Speaker 02

  Their manager went, we've got to go because we've got to go to the next show.

• 19:48Speaker 03

  And with that, Stevie, their unlikely fairy godfather, took his tapes, gathered up Wonderlove and disappeared into the morning mist.

• 20:02Speaker 02

  I don't think he said goodbye. No, I think he just said thanks. I think he thought he was really putting us out, but he wasn't. The coach rolls off, you hear it go off into the distance. Yeah, you could hear the birds in the trees.

• 20:16Speaker 03

  Even the geese didn't know how to process their feelings. They were way more aggro than usual.

• 20:22Speaker 02

  And they're all fighting, geese are. So you got them all going at each other, one thing or another. Or having a go at us mainly. There was a kitchen full of debris, bottles and everything empty. We're in the garden with a mug of tea and stuff and we're just sitting there just like, just smiling, couldn't stop smiling. Did that really just happen? Was it a dream? I wanted to tell the whole world. You know, I wanted to stand on, stand, stand at the top of Trafalgar Square in London and shout to everyone that Stevie's just played on our single.

• 20:58Speaker 03

  Nick decided to start with his dad.

• 21:01Speaker 02

  I said, Dad, Stevie Wonder's just played harmonica on our single. And he was like, come home, son. The drugs are too strong.

• 21:12Speaker 03

  But though it's true that Nancy Reagan's Just Say No. wasn't exactly taking off in the music industry. Sorry, Nancy. Nick wasn't high and he wasn't dreaming. Stevie Wonder really had blessed two tracks with his musical presence that night. Two months later, the first was released. But it's easy to follow lyrics. When "I Just Called to Say I Love You" hit the airwaves, it immediately got stuck in the heads of anyone who heard it. Which is to say, it became a runaway success.

• 21:44Speaker 02

  It was a massive hit.

• 21:46Speaker 03

  Feelabeelia's Stevie-infused track dropped just a few weeks later. And Nick was ready to join "I Just Called to Say I Love You" at the top of the charts.

• 21:55Speaker 02

  My dad always used to listen to this, you know, like, old Fogies radio station, Radio 4. It's only for old people, you know? If I got in the car, it always changes station. So we'd put it on Radio 1.

• 22:08Speaker 02

  And then one day, I put it on and our track came on and that was it. My dad turned it up and he was so proud. He was like, "That's it. You've made it."

• 22:19Speaker 03

  But there was one crucial hitch. That signature harmonica solo on Feel It had to remain a mystery.

• 22:27Speaker 02

  That was a real sort of kicking the ribs.

• 22:30Speaker 03

  Motown was a rival record label. And the word came down from management. They could play the track, but with no mention of the collaboration between Stevie Wonder and Feelabeelia.

• 22:40Speaker 02

  Record companies and stuff, it was all real backstabbing and one thing, you know, proper. Anything they can do to bring another one down, yay. We were doing radio interviews all the time.

• 22:51Speaker 03

  Feel It was released in Germany, Italy, and Japan. And whenever the question about that harmonica solo came up?

• 22:58Speaker 02

  No mention of Stevie Wonder. Felt awful. Felt like my hands were tied behind my back.

• 23:06Speaker 03

  But as they got ready to crack the US market, they still hadn't aced up their sleeves. Their record label had just invested in that oh-so-exciting new form of promotion: a music video. MTV had helped turn the UK band Duran Duran into household names in Ohio and could do the same for them.

• 23:26Speaker 02

  When we did the video and everyone was like, "God, they're gonna love that video." The record company, they loved it. You know, anyone involved in the industry loved it. And they just said, "Yeah, MTV, they'll go crazy for that one."

• 23:39Speaker 03

  But the video had a fatal flaw. In trying not to say anything about Stevie Wonder, they ended up saying something worse.

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Stevie Wonder and Wonderlove were portrayed as cartoon characters and we were like real-life characters. MTV played it once and our management informed us that MTV weren't gonna play the video anymore because they deemed it racist as we used... We portrayed Stevie Wonder and Wonderlove as black cartoon characters. It's like from the biggest high to having Stevie playing on your track. Everything else, to the biggest low that you're not allowed to say anything that is on your track. To the biggest, even lower, going down into sub-base mode now is then, when it's not selling very well and it's going even further down and there's nothing you can do to stop it, you know, it's hard.

• 24:35Speaker 02

  You just feel helpless.

• 24:37Speaker 03

  That's right. Feel It was bombing in the US and the UK. Okay, so there are so many things that could go right or wrong. Like, nobody can predict what's going to be popular. What if you were able to say this was Stevie Wonder's song, but then it still bombed? Like, wouldn't that have been a possibility?

• 24:59Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, don't get me wrong, you know, that could have happened. But I don't think it would have happened. I'm not just saying it because, you know, he played on our single. I can't think of a bigger artist. And it's like, you know, with the MTV thing, you know, the public buy what the public see, what the public hear. If they don't see it and they don't hear it, how do they know what to buy? So I honestly think it would have been a massive hit.

• 25:27Speaker 03

  Stevie's harmonica did seem to have a Midas effect in the mid-'80s. He did a solo on Shaka Khan's "I Feel For You", which went to number one in the UK at the same time that "I Just Called to Say I Love You" was literally being played nonstop on every car radio, in every grocery store, in every Walkman. Nick was obsessed. From sunup to sundown, all he could think about was the one thing he wasn't supposed to say.

• 26:00Speaker 02

  We did an interview with Gary Davis from Radio 1. We'd come to the end of all of the promotion for the single. This was one of the last interviews that we had. And I think that that was the day when it all got me.

• 26:14Speaker 02

  I was in a bad mood. Everything was going wrong. Gary Davis, he said, "I understand there's a very famous harmonica player on here." I literally thought, "Well, what are they gonna do? You know, what can they do? You know, you shouldn't have said that. Naughty boy, you know?" It's just like, no, no, I'm just gonna say it. And I just went, "Yes, Stevie Wonder."

• 26:41Speaker 02

  And the next thing I look, and through the recorder's studio window, I can see my management. They're making like cutthroat suggestions at me and stuff like this going, "Oh, no." You know, like, "Oh, no." Gary Davis, he's looking at me like, "Great, he's got an exclusive," you know? He was, I think he was really happy. The rest of my band are laughing because they knew that I was getting fed up of it. So I thought, "Well, it's out now, isn't it? So we'll see what happens."

• 27:10Speaker 03

  And what happened was that the record labels weren't happy. And sure enough, when the album dropped, it also tanked. Now, Feelabeelia's music was actually pretty good. But remember, this is 1984 we're talking about. Arguably the most prolific year in modern music history. Quincy Jones and Warner Brothers didn't have time for good. They were gunning for legendary, or they weren't checking for you at all. In short order, Nick and his bandmates were summoned to Los Angeles. Warner told them they weren't feeling it anymore.

• 27:50Speaker 03

  If the music industry was the hottest club in town, Feelabeelia were now on the wrong side of that velvet rope. They were done.

• 27:59Speaker 02

  I was floored, absolutely floored. It was like, yeah, one of the worst days of my life. But, you know, you can't argue with the general public, can you? They only buy what they like.

• 28:13Speaker 03

  And what they liked was "I Just Called to Say I Love You." It's actually Stevie's only number-one hit in the UK to this day.

• 28:22Speaker 02

  I was pleased for him. Not particularly my favorite Stevie track. He's wrote probably 3,000 tracks better than that one.

• 28:31Speaker 03

  Nick was back to living a regular life in Leicester. He was cleaning up around the house one day when he decided to turn on the radio.

• 28:40Speaker 02

  I heard the track on the radio. And as soon as I heard the harmonica, I knew it was Stevie Wonder. And then when the track finished, the DJ said, "Announce your remix with Stevie Wonder." And I'm just like, "Oh, my God." It's like, "Oh, well, he's playing on anyone's now," you know?

• 28:59Speaker 03

  I also have a song that Stevie... Just playing again. But for real, though, maybe some of the magic has worn off from that night when Stevie and Wonderlove descended from the heavens. And Feelabeelia did turn out to be another '80s band that almost was a one-hit wonder. But Nick did eventually get something to show the world, and it really did happen.

• 29:25Speaker 02

  Stevie Wonder's had an anthology written about him and it's got every track that he's ever played on. I was over the moon to get a copy of this. We're in it on page 204. So Stevie Wonder's acknowledged that he played on our single and there's a whole page on us all about Feel It, the track. Yeah, yeah, thank you, Stevie. I don't think I've ever thanked you. Thank you, Stevie.

• 30:12Speaker 01

  Big, big thanks to Nick Murphy for sharing his story with the Snap from across the pond. Nick still lives in Leicester today, and he's continuing to make dreams come true as the oldest student at De Montfort University, where he studies music technology. Right on, Nick. The original score for that piece was by Clay Xavier. It's produced by Regina Berriaco.

• 30:43Speaker 01

  Now, after the break, a wrestler finds the fight of his life outside the ring. Stay tuned.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  Welcome back to Snap Judgment. My name is Glenn Washington. Since some listeners should know, this story does contain graphic imagery. Now, we're traveling down to the Borderlands where our own Eliza Smith meets one of the hardest working men to ever wear a mask. Snap us. I proudly present to you.

• 31:21Speaker 01

  Casandro!

• 31:32Speaker 04

  Lucha Libre is very alive. You get there, the ring is there, the chairs are there, music is going, cumbias and salsa, and the mascaras are passing by to be sold. All of a sudden, lights go down, and music gets up, and the smoke comes out, and it's lucha libre time. And then people just scream their lungs out.

• 31:58Speaker 04

  For lucha libre mexicana, for the most part, there's no predetermined, like, you're gonna lose, or you're gonna win. Everything is decided in the ring.

• 32:12Speaker 04

  I'm gonna win because of my talent, or I'm gonna lose because I don't have the talent.

• 32:16Speaker 05

  Just like in the US, where we've got The Rock and Hulk Hogan, luchadores have stage personas. La Ser, El Hijo del Santo, La Pantera Rosa, the Pink Panther. Casandro was the best wrestler in his gym, but he still didn't know who he was in the ring.

• 32:35Speaker 04

  When I became a wrestler, I started, like everybody else, with a mascara, with a mask, and my trunk, and my little wrestling boots, and that was it. That was all your gear. But I knew that I didn't feel comfortable. I didn't like it. I was like, yeah, it feels good, but this is not me.

• 32:57Speaker 04

  And then when Pimpinella came aboard, she was like, no, I've been there. So, we related a lot. I just met Pimpinella into Juarez at the gym.

• 33:09Speaker 04

  Pimpinella was very, very skinny, and he's super tall. And you can tell he was from a low-budget family. He was struggling. And I was like, oh, this is a new one, new one on the block. And then Pimpinella would say, like, oh, who do you think you are? We didn't never got along so good until after we started wrestling each other and kicking each other's butts. And that's how we just became like big, big sisters. You would have known, just by seeing us, or hearing us, or that we had a different

• 33:53Speaker 04

  sexual identity. I was training in the gym, and one of the old timers, he was very famous from here, came, and they were looking for an exotico in the biggest company that Juarez had at that moment, 1988. And guess who they picked? They picked me.

• 34:13Speaker 04

  Exoticos is like a flamboyant wrestler. Not necessarily an exotico has to be gay, because there has been a lot of exoticos that are not gay, that are bisexual, or that are even transsexuals.

• 34:37Speaker 04

  They were like the clowns of the circus, and that's what I didn't want. I didn't want to become a clown of the circus. I didn't want to become one that the people laughed at me. I want to become one that people applaud and recognize my talent in the ring.

• 34:52Speaker 05

  Casandro wanted to be a champion. He also knew that Mexico's three-time world champion, El Hijo del Santo, had said publicly that he wouldn't wrestle exoticos.

• 35:04Speaker 04

  El Hijo del Santo has said that he wanted no, nothing to do with an exotico, because one time Rudy Reina had the nerve to try and kiss him in the ring.

• 35:15Speaker 05

  So, if he took the company's offer, he might never get to one of those big arenas. But this was his only choice. Join the company and wrestle as an exotico, or don't wrestle with the company.

• 35:28Speaker 04

  You know that every luchador, his dream is to wrestle in the big arenas and with the big companies. And that was my calling. So, I just said, okay. I was very scared, very nervous, because I was gonna be an exotico.

• 35:44Speaker 05

  After the recruiter approached Casandro, he and Pimpinella decided to move to Mexico City. Moving meant bigger matches and better opponents, but they weren't gonna get anywhere without a look.

• 36:01Speaker 04

  The other exoticos weren't able to use makeup, no pantyhose, no bathing suits. They would just use trunks or singlets. And when we got together, and we talked about it, we said, what do you want to wear? I said, bring the feathers and the glitter, and let's just bling bling ourselves a little bit more, and we'll take it from there. If we're gonna be exoticos, let's do this revolution. Let's go all out, we're gay, and let's just be true to ourselves. And let's see how the audience, and the promoters, and everybody else looks at us.

• 36:41Speaker 04

  I was hit harder, I was pushed down harder, and I was slapped harder, and I was spit on my face more times. I think that I had to do double the work that any normal male human luchador would do, because first, I'm already labeled and tagged as a homosexual.

• 37:11Speaker 04

  Normally, the good guys are the ones that do all the great stuff, the flying, the suicide topes and everything. We're not just jesters. We have this talent. We like to walk in the ropes, and fly outside the ropes, and inside the ropes, and do all this roles and gymnastics stuff.

• 37:35Speaker 04

  And then word got around that I was good, that I was respectful, that I was disciplined. And then it took less than a year, then the company said, we're gonna give you an opportunity with El Hijo del Santo for the championship belt.

• 37:50Speaker 05

  Yeah, that El Hijo, the same legendary luchador who said he'd never wrestle an exotico. The promoter handpicked Casandro from a sea of newbie wrestlers to take on the three-time world champion.

• 38:07Speaker 04

  And I was just like, oh my God, I'm getting a big chance with El Hijo del Santo, the biggest legend of Mexico. And here I am, an exotico from Juarez. The match was gonna be January 28, 1981. You know, in Mexico, the biggest sport after soccer is lucha libre, so we had the press. And for the most part, a lot of them were like against me, like, why would he do the championship match with El Hijo del Santo? Why can't they pick somebody else? And I was like, well, there's a freaking reason why they chose me. And I'm gonna show you if you just let me do that match.

• 38:45Speaker 05

  El Hijo del Santo never responded to the negative press. Some fans and reporters were calling for him to cancel the match, but he stayed silent.

• 38:56Speaker 04

  That all got to me, because it was a very happy moment in my career, but in my emotional and in my life, then I started not believing in me and putting doubt on myself.

• 39:13Speaker 05

  One week before the match, Casandro and Pimpinella went out to see a few lucha libre matches at the biggest arena in Mexico City. When they got to the stadium, the press ambushed Casandro.

• 39:28Speaker 04

  The question was like, "Do you think you're fit for the match?" And they would scream stuff like that. And I think I tried to put the best face that I could and I didn't say nothing. And when I got home in the bathroom, I don't know what triggered it or what happened, but I just knew that something was not feeling right. And when I stand up, there was a window right in front of me and there was a razor right there. And I don't know what triggered it or how it happened. It's just one of those things that just happened.

• 40:11Speaker 04

  I put my arm up, got the razor, put it in my mouth, cracked it open, got the knives out and started cutting my wrists on my left hand. And I continued to cutting my wrists on my right hand. And it was like a slow process for me because I still, I'm remembering right now just everything, how it happened. It was just a moment where watching the blood run was okay for me.

• 40:54Speaker 04

  And Pimpinella came in and he saw me and I was already sitting in the floor with my hands bleeding. And he came in and got me and just carried me to the living room. We called the doctor and, you know, they fixed me, but I had some bandages on my wrists. And so I had to wear long sleeves and I didn't like it and I didn't want nobody to know, of course. But, you know, the word was gonna get around. And so I decided like, you know what? You're already down. Get up, pick yourself up and go forward.

• 41:36Speaker 04

  Do it. The fight was on a Thursday and it was in the arena, Pista Arena Revolución in Mexico City, 8:00 PM. And going to the arena was just like, whoa. And when I walked in the dressing room, I remember I was like, I was shaking. And I had taken Pimpinella with me because I said, "Pimpinella wasn't gonna wrestle that night." But I said, "Pimpin, you gotta go with me. Come on, you gotta go with me. You gotta be on my corner. You gotta be my second." And he's like, "All right, I'll do it." And he said, "Look, you're gonna be okay.

• 42:20Speaker 04

  Do the best that you can. Don't let the people or the nervous get you. Here, take a sip of this tequila and it will help you." And then all of a sudden they go, "Okay, you guys, we're ready for you." And they go, "Cassandra." And there we go. Cassandra El Exotico is the Liberace of the Lucha Libre, la diva del ring. Once they put that song on, I will survive.

• 42:49Speaker 06

  Ladies and gentlemen, Cassandra.

• 42:53Speaker 04

  And the doors open. It's my moment. I come, I walk out with my big, long tail gown and people are like, "Wow, look at this guy." And I have my makeup and the glitter and the bling bling and I'll do that catwalk. We start our match and that's the time that you have to put all your knowledge to work. So we start wrestling. Like doing one move after the other one. And then the people were just like, "Oh, wow, that is very pretty."

• 43:36Speaker 04

  And then I would shine, he would shine and we started doing our moves. And that's how you get the recognition because that's how you're telling them, "See, I know how to wrestle. This is how I defend myself." In Mexico, normally matches are three falls. And I picked him up on the third rope and put him on my shoulders and put him on a hold. I won the first fall and then he won the second fall with a tope and I think the tapatía. When I would go to my corner, Pimpin would do air with a towel for me. And I hear the reaction of the people, which is very important because those are the ones that keep you going.

• 44:21Speaker 04

  And then the third match, the third fall is when everything goes to the oven. Like you gotta throw everything, you know, there, but you're already tired. It just came to a moment where I couldn't go any more further, but I knew I had done enough, like to prove myself. And I was like, okay. And once he put me on his, the "acaballo," on a hold that he's called, it's like a horse, I was done. I was done. I could, my back was done and I just tap out. And that was it. And then everybody was kissing my ass after that.

• 45:06Speaker 04

  All the reporters, they were dumping on me. They were all like kissing my ass and, "Oh, my God, that was great. Good job." And all this. And I'm like, "Wow, are you serious?" I felt good. I knew that I had done enough work to be recognized and to shut the mouth of all those guys that was trying to be the joy killers.

• 45:34Speaker 05

  Cassandra went on to have an amazing career.

• 45:37Speaker 04

  So I went from wrestling El Hijo del Santo in 91 and not winning the championship to winning it later on, months after that match in November 29th in Toluca versus Lacer. And I get crowned as the first exotico to be the world lightweight champion. And everybody was happy and La La Land was for me.

• 46:04Speaker 05

  He became one of Mexico's most beloved luchadores. After two decades of professional wrestling, he was a cultural icon. The Louvre called Cassandra up in 2009 and asked him to reenact one of his favorite matches for Paris Fashion Week. He could pick any opponent he wanted. Cassandra looked back on 20 years of fighting, of fame, and he picked this match, his first fight with El Hijo del Santo.

• 46:33Speaker 04

  And we do our matches. Everything went well. So the next day, we had three days off. And then I told him like, "Hey, let's go to the Eiffel Tower. Let's go hang out. Let's have a talk." And he's like, "Yeah, let's go." And we were tired and went to have a cup of coffee. And I popped a question. I'm like, "Hey, I'm curious. So how was it that you agreed to wrestle an exotico for the championship match?" And he's like, "What?" I'm like, "Yeah. I'm curious. How did all this happen?" He's like, "You know what?

• 47:18Speaker 04

  Mr. Minis came and talked to me and he said, 'There's this wrestler. He's very talented. Would you give him a chance for the championship belt?'" And he's like, "Well, yeah, of course. Why not?" And then they told him who it was and it was me. And they said, "Well, Cassandra, he's from Juarez, but he's an exotico." And he's like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no." So he said, "So when they told me that it was you, I went to some of the events where you were fighting and I don't know, something was different from you. And I liked your rhythm and it looked like you have talent. I knew you were too new for me, but then I said yes.

• 47:59Speaker 04

  And then when we fought, I knew I wanted to wrestle you." And it was very beautiful. And then he goes, "How did you feel about it?" I said, "No, you don't even know what I went through about it." He's like, "Wait a minute. What are you talking about?" And then I said, "I almost died before the match." He was like, "What?" Yeah. I started showing him my wrists. And he's like, "What, Casandrito? What happened to you?" And you know what? We got to talk about it and then we just hugged and embraced each other.

• 48:38Speaker 04

  He said, "Damn, I didn't knew you went through all this stuff just for a championship match." I said, "It wasn't for a championship match. It was for my opportunity to come, to show off. And thank you because of that match, I know and I believe that my career took a hike." And it's been the most beautiful thing.

• 49:12Speaker 01

  Thank you, Cassandra, for sharing your story with Snap. The original score was by Leon Morimoto. It was produced by Eliza Smith. Around the world and back again, if you missed even a moment, know that the Snap Judgment Storytelling Podcast is available right now, wherever you get your podcasts. From KQD's secret underground lair, Snap is brought to you by the team that does the hokey pokey and they turn themselves around, except for the uber producer, Mr. Mark Wistrick, because of course, that's what it's all about.

• 49:53Speaker 01

  Now there's Nancy Lopez, Pat Massey Miller, Anna Sussman, Renzo Gorio, John Facil, Shayna Sheely, Taylor Decot, Flo Wiley, Bo Walsh, Marissa Dodge, David XMA, and Regina Bediako. On Team Snap, the union represented producers, artists, editors, and engineers are members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO Local 51. And this is not the news. No way this is the news. In fact, you can tell everyone that Stevie Wonder is coming to your birthday party, knowing good and well that Stevie Wonder is not coming to your birthday party.

• 50:37Speaker 01

  And you would still, still not be as far away from the news as this is. But this is PRX.