The lead singer and co-founder of the disco group Village People has died at the age of 74.
Victor Willis, who played a policeman and a naval officer in the troupe, founded the group in 1977 with Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo.
The group announced that Willis had died after a “short but aggressive illness.”
“Confidentiality required.”
Victor Willis celebrates with the band after performing at Madison Square Garden in 1979. (AP: J. Paul Burnett)
Karen Huff-Willis, Willis’ wife, announced his death on her official Facebook account.
“It is with deep sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, Victor Willis,” she wrote.
“The family requests privacy at this time of great loss.”
Victor Willis’s career spanned nearly 50 years, both as a member of the Village People and as a soloist.
Willis helped write hits with Morali and Belolo. In the Navy, macho and others.
Victor Willis (center) joined other members of the Village People to speak at a rally in support of US President Donald Trump ahead of his second inauguration. (Reuters: Carlos Barria)
He left the Village People in the ’80s and performed solo until rejoining the group in 2017.
Despite the reputation of the Village People and their music in the LGBTQ+ community, Victor Willis said: YMCA was not a “gay anthem”.
He later clarified his statement and said, “While (I) have no problem with gays seeing the YMCA as a gay anthem, I think it’s important for them to know that’s not what my lyrics are about.”
“However, as I have said many times, it is normal for them to feel otherwise,” Willis said.
In 2025, he joined members of the Village People to speak at a rally ahead of the inauguration of US President Donald Trump’s second term.
Willis only toured with the Village People in May 2026.Attached: Facebook/Victor Willis)
Willis joined Trump on stage, performing the YMCA song, despite previously asking him not to use Village People music at his rally.
Willis attributed the YMCA’s rise to popularity to Trump’s use of it during the campaign, and said that “it wasn’t the LGBTQ community that made the YMCA great again… and it wasn’t the African American community that made it.”
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“While we do not want the YMCA to be used to make any political statements, President Trump’s mere distribution of a video containing our song about President Obama does not meet the standard of copyright infringement,” the group said on X in July 2025.
The Village People recently performed in India after their European tour and performed for US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Attached: Facebook/Victor Willis)
Willis said the Village People’s speech “is not an endorsement of the president-elect’s policies.”
“We believe music should spread across the political spectrum rather than being reserved for one political side,”
– he said.
“We are doing the right thing by speaking out and keeping politics out of it.
“So please stop imposing your political views on the villagers.”