Victor Willis, Village People frontman and 'Y.M.C.A.' singer, dead at 74

Victor Willis, the Village People vocalist who co-wrote immoderate the band’s biggest hits including “Y.M.C.A.,” has died. He was 74.

The set announced Willis’ decease successful a connection to societal media, saying, “We are profoundly bittersweet to denote the decease of Victor Willis, pb vocalist of Village People,” adding that “Victor passed connected Monday June 30, 2026 of a abbreviated but assertive illness.”

Willis, calved July 1, 1951, successful Texas but a San Francisco native, grew up astir gospel euphony successful his curate father’s Baptist church. As a young philharmonic prodigy, Willis said helium joined successful sessions with Dizzy Gillespie and his set successful precocious school, the Ballads, opened for the Temptations. After school, helium moved to philharmonic theatre and Broadway, performing successful “Hair,” which led to runs successful “Two Gentlemen of Verona” and “The Wiz.” That second accumulation introduced him to his archetypal wife, aboriginal “The Cosby Show” prima Phylicia Rashad.

In 1977, French shaper Jacques Morali asked him to sing connected a postulation of disco tracks nether the task sanction the Village People. The sessions went truthful good that Morali asked Willis to beforehand the group, which adopted campy archetypes of masculinity — cop, cowboy and operation idiosyncratic among them — successful their signifier costumes. Paired with bubbly disco grooves and chant-along choruses, the set became cheery icons overnight.

In conscionable 2 years, the set released 1978’s “Cruisin,” which featured “Y.M.C.A.,” a deed that reached No. 1 successful 17 countries. The aforesaid year, the set released “Macho Man,” which included the rubric way and “Key West.”

The adjacent year, they enactment retired “Live and Sleazy” and “Go West,” which featured “In the Navy,” “I Wanna Shake Your Hand” and the rubric track, a nascent cheery nine deed that the Pet Shop Boys aboriginal covered. Willis had mixed feelings astir the group’s caricature image, signaling but shelving a 1979 solo album, “Solo Man,” until 2015. Willis discontinue the Village People successful 1979 during accumulation of “Can’t Stop the Music,” a Village People movie and a fiscal catastrophe that led to the band’s dissolution.

The Village People successful 1979, clockwise from apical left: Randy Jones, Victor Willis, Alex Briley, Glenn Hughes, Felipe Rose and David Hodo.

(Can’t Stop Productions)

Willis admitted to cause problems passim the ‘80s and ‘90s, frustrated with however his clip successful the Village People kept audiences from taking him much earnestly arsenic an artist. He pushed backmost connected perceptions of the band’s gay-coded imagery, saying “Y.M.C.A.” was virtually inspired by his observations of beingness astatine the recreation center’s San Francisco branch.

After a 2006 court-ordered rehab stint, Willis past joined Karen Huff, an lawyer who helped him gain backmost 50% ownership of “Y.M.C.A.” and 12 different Village People songs successful the US. Willis made bid with his Village People bequest and rejoined the radical successful 2017.

In 2020, “Y.M.C.A.” was included successful the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

President Trump, a longtime instrumentality of the disco ensemble, became the group’s astir arguable champion, incongruously playing its euphony astatine far-right governmental rallies.

Willis said successful 2020 that “I don’t endorse Trump, I’ve ne'er endorsed Trump, nor has the Village People. We person adjacent asked him fundamentally to adjacent halt playing our euphony astatine his rallies. But due to the fact that of the copyright laws successful the United States ... he’s capable to play our euphony immoderate clip helium wants to astatine immoderate venue due to the fact that he’s not utilizing it successful an incorrect way, truthful we don’t sound it.”

Yet Willis yet agreed to execute astatine President Trump’s 2nd inauguration successful 2025. “We cognize this won’t marque immoderate of you blessed to hear, nevertheless we judge that euphony is to beryllium performed without respect to politics,” helium wrote connected Facebook then. “Our opus YMCA is simply a planetary anthem that hopefully helps bring the state unneurotic aft a tumultuous and divided run wherever our preferred campaigner lost.”

President Trump posted connected Truth Social that “we loved them and their large and uplifting song.”

“We volition deliberation of Victor each clip YMCA is played, similar today, and each passim this July Fourth Birthday week,” the President continued.