Victor Willis, the singer and songwriter of Village People, dies

BarcelonaThe American singer and songwriter Victor Willis (Dallas, 1951), leader of the group Village People, died this Tuesday at the age of 74 after a "brief but aggressive illness," as reported by the band on their Facebook page. Willis was the singer and co-author of some of the group's greatest hits such as YMCA, Go West, Macho Man, and In the navy. The musician embodied characters such as the policeman and the Navy officer within the group's visual aesthetic, based on interpreting male archetypes on stage. Willis's role was fundamental to the configuration of the sound and image with which Village People became an international phenomenon during the 70s and a symbol of queer culture.

Village People was born as an entirely male commercial pop group, conceived primarily for live performance with musicians who could also dance. Willis had begun a career in theater and had appeared in various musical shows, including the production of The Wiz on Broadway in 1976. But after meeting the French disco music producer Jacques Morali, he decided to change his career path and agreed to lead the project Morali had in mind. Village People debuted in 1977 with Willis at the helm and other performers such as Felipe Rose, Jeff Olson, David Hodo, Alex Briley, and Glenn Hughes. Each embodied a male archetype: from the policeman and the captain to the construction worker, the biker, and the cowboy.

Willis was in charge of writing a large part of the band's repertoire, which soon garnered numerous hits. One of the first to appear was YMCA (1978) and then others followed like In the Navy and Go West. Just when they were at the peak of their popularity and preparing a musical film, in the 80s, Willis left the band. The group continued performing, with various singers at the helm, but did not manage to maintain the success they had achieved during the golden age of disco music. Afterwards, for years, Willis fought in the courts to obtain the copyright for his songs. In 2012 the musician won a ruling in his favor and in 2017 he rejoined the group.

In recent years, Village People became the soundtrack for the current president of the United States, Donald Trump. The politician used their songs during rallies and, initially, Willis asked him to withdraw them. However, shortly after, he reached an agreement with Trump and ceded the songs for political events. In fact, one of Willis's last performances was in January 2025 during a Trump rally.