Village People lead singer Victor Willis dies at 74 after ‘aggressive’ illness

Willis, who took on the “cop” and “admiral” characters, left the group in 1979 to embark on a solo career

Published Jul 01, 2026  •  Last updated 5 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

(L-R) Victor Willis and Jeffrey Lippold of The Village People onstage during the 2017 Streamy Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Kevin Winter /Getty Images for dick clark productions

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source

Article content

Victor Willis, the lead singer of iconic disco group Village People, has died. He was 74.

Article content

Article content

The band and Willis’ wife announced the news in separate Facebook posts on Wednesday.

“We are profoundly sad to announce the death of VICTOR WILLIS, lead singer of Village People,” the group wrote. “Victor passed on Tuesday June 30, 2026 of a short but aggressive illness.”

Karen Huff Willis issued a similar statement on her husband’s official page.

Step up, macho men

The Texas-born musician, who would have turned 75 today, co-founded Village People in 1977 when Willis accepted an invitation from producer Jacques Morali and his business partner Henri Belolo.

The group would eventually expand to six or seven performers.

“I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on an album I produced, and it went very, very big… I’ll make you a star,” Morali reportedly told Willis, according to the band’s website.

Willis went on to co-write a number of ‘70s hits you likely danced to at countless weddings including “Y.M.C.A.,” “In the Navy,” and “Macho Man.”

Article content

Article content

The group became a pop culture phenomenon thanks to their theatrical costumes and over-the-top choreography, as they targeted the genre’s large gay audience with fantastical characters of cowboys, bikers, soldiers and other ultra-masculine personas.

“Macho Types Wanted for World-Famous Disco Group — Must Dance and Have a Moustache,” read an early ad seeking members to bolster the group’s lineup, shared on the group’s website.

Victor Willis of the Village People performs during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) Photo by Kevin Dietsch /Getty Images

Trump time

Willis, who took on the “cop” and “admiral” characters, left the group in 1979 to embark on a solo career before reforming Village People in 2017, which led to disputes with some of his former bandmates after winning a copyright lawsuit that allowed him to reclaim part-ownership of some of the group’s biggest hits.

Between his departure and reunion, Willis struggled with drug addiction and took a plea deal over cocaine possession in 2006.

“Y.M.C.A.,” which boasts lyrics that urge “young men” to head to the Young Men’s Christian Association in New York, became an anthem for the LGBTQ community and then became a fixture at rallies for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Article content

Trump even developed his own trademark dance to accompany the song. You know the one, a stiff shuffling of the hips along with awkward fist pumps…

US President Donald Trump does his little dance after giving a speech about taxes and Social Security in The Villages, Florida, on May 1, 2026. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images) Photo by Jim Watson/AFP /Getty Images

Willis said he received thousands of complaints about the use of the 1978 hit at Trump events and was going to ask the president “to stop using Y.M.C.A. because his use had become a nuisance to me.”

However, he had a change of heart that Trump appeared to be “having a lot of fun with it,” adding in a lengthy Facebook statement that the “financial benefits have been great.”

The band went on to perform “Y.M.C.A.” at a pre-inauguration rally in January 2025.

(L-R) Victor Willis and Jeffrey Lippold of The Village People onstage during the 2017 Streamy Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 26, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images) Photo by Kevin Winter /Getty Images for dick clark productions

“Let’s give President Trump a chance, regardless of what you may have thought about him in the past,” Willis said at the time.

“Let’s see what he’s going to do moving forward and if he does things to restrict LGBTQ rights, Village People will be the first to speak out,” he added.

He also called it a “false assumption” that Y.M.C.A. was written to be a “gay anthem,” explaining that the lyrics were based on “the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms.”

The song was added to the National Recording Registry by the U.S. Library of Congress, as well as the Grammy Hall of Fame, in 2020.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Article content