Felipe Rose

Felipe Ortiz Rose was born in Manhattan. Rose has said his father was Mescalero Apache, Lakota, and Cherokee. He was raised in Brooklyn, where he displayed an interest in the arts during his childhood, and first dressed as "an Indian" while in school for "the Christopher Columbus parade and celebration." After graduating from high school in 1972, he moved to Greenwich Village where he stayed with a succession of friends and acquaintances. He also spent time in Provincetown, Massachusetts, where he performed his "Indian" character in the Arthur Blake bicentennial revue. He cites his mother was his main inspiration as she had been a dancer for the Copacabana during the 1940s and 1950s. ==Village People==

receive their Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Rose is center front. In the early 1970s, Rose was working as a nightclub dancer. He describes being encouraged by an aunt to begin dancing in what he says was "his father's tribal regalia," He was a member of the band's board of directors, called Sixuvus Ltd ("six of us" - named for the six members of the Village People). ==Solo career==

From 2000 to 2008, while still part of Village People, Felipe wrote and recorded "Trail of Tears," "We're Still Here," "Red Hawk Woman" and "Going Back to My Roots." His single "Trails of Tears" won a NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) for Best Historical Recording. Rose has appeared in the movies ''Can't Stop the Music (1980), The Best of Village People (1993), and Feathers and Leathers: The Story of the Village People (1999). He also participated in the 2000 documentary, Village People: The E! True Hollywood Story. He first performed the song during a tribute show of the 40th anniversary of Saturday Night Fever''. When asked if this was used for gay marriages, Rose claimed he once spontaneously married a gay couple while aboard a ship in Australia. ==Personal life==

After his mother's death, Rose moved to Richmond, Virginia. He briefly lived in Jersey City, New Jersey, though he found it to be too crowded. In a 2008 interview, he stated that approximately four or five years prior, he moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey, on the advice of several friends who lived there, saying, "So I came down and I just fell in love with the shore... I love the diversity of Asbury because it brings everyone together. There is a very large gay and lesbian community here, but the diversity of artists is amazing; it's become very bohemian." Rose is also a hobbyist cook, making dishes inspired by his Puerto Rican heritage. He says his mother was not a cook, preferring to prepare "five cans of Chef Boyardee and a loaf of bread", leading Rose to learn to cook at a young age. He pitched a cooking show to ABC, with the idea of preparing meals at various celebrities' houses. He then revamped the show idea with the late Chef Lou Petrozza, a Hell's Kitchen runner-up, but ABC declined unless the other Village People members were present. As of 2021, he continues to cook on his YouTube channel. ==See also==