Victor Willis, leader of the Village People, has died at the age of 74 Villagers

Victor Willis, lead singer VillagersHe died at the age of 74. The group reported the news in a statement: “Victor died on Monday 30 June 2026 due to a minor but serious illness,” they said. “Confidentiality is requested.”

The author of what is accepted as the official gay song in the YMCA and Macho Man – he also performed in hyper-masculine clothes – Willis rejected the idea that YMCA was a gay song and threatened to sue “any news organization” that said so.

“As I’ve said many times before, this is a false assumption given that my writing partner was gay, and some (not all) of the Village People were gay, and that the first Village People album was about gay life,” he said in 2024.

Hot on the heels of the disco era, Willis left the band in 1980 and spent years dealing with drugs and legal troubles.

Willis had a reaction to Donald Trump’s use of the YMCA during his campaign and rallies. After agreeing to spend on President Trump’s 2020 campaign, Willis dropped his support as the Black Lives Matter movement rose to prominence, but later changed tune.

He has repeatedly said that he is against Trump – and in 2024 he supported Kamala Harris – but admitted that the president’s use of the song “has greatly benefited the song”. In 2025, the Village People participated in the Turning Point USA ball to mark the inauguration of the Vice President, as well as a meeting to prepare for the event.

On Wednesday, Trump paid tribute to Willis on Truth Social, writing: “He was a great and happy man who loved that I used the song of his club, the YMCA, at my rallies. We will think of Victor every time the YMCA is played, like today, and throughout the July 4th weekend.”

Willis was born on July 1, 1951 in Texas. He grew up in a Baptist church run by his father. He participated in a high school band, the Ballads, which supported the Trials. After school he became a Broadway actor, and met his future wife, Phylicia Rashad (then Phylicia Ayers-Allen, who later starred on The Cosby Show), when she performed in the musical The Wiz. The couple was married from 1978 to the early 80s.

It was on Broadway that Willis was discovered by the French singer and songwriter Jacques Morali and his business partner Henri Belolo, who invited him to sing on an album they were making against homosexuality in the US.

Morali had the idea of ​​creating a disco group based on old American beliefs: “We have an idea,” they told their lawyer, as described in Mojo magazine in 1998, “to assemble a very unique group, very American and very happy.” Willis also wrote songs for Morali’s other group, Philadelphia disco act the Ritchie Family.

After that “happy” record, 1977’s Village People, became a hit, Willis and Morali recruited everyone else — mostly actors, presenters and dancers — from an ad that said: “Eyes wanted. Must have mustaches.” He established various characters for the group, including a leather man, a builder and a cowboy. Willis acted as a naval officer or police officer.

After the line-up settled, the group released the album Macho Man, which spawned a single of the same name – and the 1978 smash YMCA, which hit No 1 in 17 countries.

“I loved that it was so obvious that he was gay – when everyone was in denial about it,” Pet Shop Boys director Neil Tennant said of the song. It was almost a conspiracy not to realize that it was sex with men in the YMCA showers. It was a very good record to accept that. I thought it was disgusting!” Pet Shop Boys would go on to cover the Village People’s 1979 hit Go West.

That year, the Villagers had another hit with In the Navy. The US Navy allowed the group to use their talent for filming the video in exchange for using the song for recruiting purposes – until the Navy realized what it could be (“They’re recruiting new sailors fast”) and changed their minds.

Willis left the band in 1980 while preparing for the hit film, Can’t Stop the Music, which bombed both critically and commercially. Morali and Belolo decided it was time to give it their all, although the solo album recorded in 1979 remained unreleased until 2015.

Willis returned to the band for 1982’s Fox on the Box, but left again the following year. Willis then withdrew from public life and struggled with drug addiction for a long time.

In 1993, he was accused of raping and beating a woman and was later acquitted. In 2005, he was arrested in California and found to be in possession of cocaine and a firearm. He didn’t declare a race but failed to appear for a plea deal and was on the run — even appearing on the TV show America’s Most Wanted.

In 2006, he was arrested and again found guilty of cocaine, after being tried and sentenced to rehabilitation after numerous drug and firearms and criminal charges. A the judge showed him leniency, to mention “how to use it” and sent her to Betty Ford Hospital in Calfornia. After completing rehabilitation, he released a statement to fans, saying that he was freed from drugs and “looking forward to the second part of my drug-free life”.

In 2007, he married attorney and entertainment executive Karen Huff, who helped him file a lawsuit against the company that owned the Village People’s music. In 2015, a federal judge ruled that they were entitled to 50% ownership of 13 of their songs, including YMCA.

In 2017, Willis reunited with the Village People before releasing their 2018 album A Village People Christmas.

In 2020, the YMCA was included in the National Recording Registry of the US Library of Congress for its “cultural, historic or aesthetic value”.