1977–1979 French musical composer and producer
Jacques Morali and his business partner,
Henri Belolo, known collectively as Can't Stop Productions, were enjoying a successful string of hits in France and Europe. In 1977, they moved to
New York City to attempt to break into the American market. Morali had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor
Victor Willis. After hiring Willis to sing background vocals on the four tracks, Morali approached him and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the debut album
Village People. Songwriters
Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead wrote the lyrics for the first album (Willis would subsequently take over writing duties for the group's biggest hits). The Village People studio band was called Gypsy Lane and was conducted by
Horace Ott. Ott also provided many of the musical arrangements for Morali, who did not play any instruments. The album became an international hit, and demand for live appearances soon followed. Morali and Willis hastily built a group of dancers around Willis to perform in clubs and videos. Willis hand-picked
Alex Briley (who initially appeared in nondescript costumes before switching to
G.I. uniforms), while Morali chose
Felipe Rose (who claims
Native American descent and dressed in costume as
"an Indian") in a local gay
BDSM after-hours sex club in
Chelsea called
The Anvil. The others were Mark Mussler (construction worker), Dave Forrest (cowboy), Lee Mouton (leatherman/biker), and Peter Whitehead (one of the group's early songwriters), who appeared on
American Bandstand and in the video for the group's first hit, "San Francisco (You Got Me)". When record sales soared, Morali and Willis saw the need for a permanent group. They took out an ad in a theatre trade paper which read:
"Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance And Have A Moustache.
" This song was also performed on the TV series
The Love Boat and
Married... with Children, and in the 1996 comedy film
Down Periscope. The group's contemporary fame peaked in 1979 with a three-month North American tour, several appearances on
The Merv Griffin Show and
American Bandstand, and performing with
Bob Hope to entertain US troops. They were also featured on the cover of
Rolling Stone, vol. 289, April 19, 1979. Willis left the group in August 1979, during production of the upcoming musical movie tentatively titled
Discoland: Where the Music Never Ends (retitled ''
Can't Stop The Music). He was replaced by Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson (of Ashford & Simpson), who had previously sung background vocals with the group on their 1979 tour. The end of 1979 saw the release of Live and Sleazy'', a double album featuring Victor Willis on lead vocals on the "Live" disc and Simpson's debut with the group on the "Sleazy" disc.
1980–1985 In June 1980, the feature film ''
Can't Stop the Music'' was released. The film was directed by
Nancy Walker, written by
Allan Carr and
Bronte Woodard, had music and lyrics by Jacques Morali (except Willis, who penned the lyrics to "Milkshake" and "Magic Night") and starred
Steve Guttenberg,
Valerie Perrine, Jean-Claude Billmaer, and
Caitlyn Jenner. The film was a
box office failure, except in Australia. By the time it was released, disco's popularity had waned. At the
1st Golden Raspberry Awards, the movie won two Razzies for
Worst Picture and
Worst Screenplay; it was also nominated in almost all the other categories. Although the title song became a club play chart success and moderate radio hit, it was nominated for the Razzie for
Worst Original Song and did not live up to sales expectations, never obtaining gold status as a single or album. The soundtrack also featured the talents of David London, who (under his real name
Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen) became the future lead singer of the rock band
Toto and one of the main contributors to Village People's next album. The group embarked on a tour in promotion of the film in Australia and Japan. The Japanese show was filmed at
Budokan and released on DVD as Village People Live In Japan. The group appeared in the November 22, 1980 episode of
The Love Boat (season four, episode seven). At the end of 1980, Jeff Olson joined the group as the cowboy. In 1981, with
new wave music becoming more popular than disco, Morali and Belolo ditched the familiar characters and re-branded Village People with a new look, inspired by the
New Romantic movement, and released the album
Renaissance. It only attracted minor, mostly negative attention, but it did produce the group's first hit single in Italy with "5 O'clock in the Morning". Willis rejoined the group briefly in late 1981 for the writing and recording of the album
Fox on the Box, released in Europe and Japan in 1982 and in the United States in 1983 under the title
In the Street. David Hodo and Ray Simpson both left the group in 1982 with
Mark Lee and
Miles Jaye replacing them respectively. Jaye contributed lead vocals to a single in 1983 called "America", which would be added as an extra track to the 1999 remaster of
In the Street. In 1984, the group sang background vocals on a disco version of "
Where The Boys Are" by
Lorna Luft. Their next album, the 1985 dance/
Hi-NRG release
Sex Over the Phone, was not a huge commercial success, but it fared better in sales and club play than
Renaissance. The title track, when released as a single, was banned by the
BBC because of its subject matter, credit-card
phone sex. Despite this, it did peak at 59 on the UK singles chart. The album featured yet another new lead singer,
Ray Stephens (of
The Great Space Coaster fame). It was the group's last album of new material until
A Village People Christmas in 2018. Py Douglas came in to sub for Stephens for some of the group's live appearances in 1985 and can be seen in both promotional videos made for the group. Afterwards, the group took a hiatus.
1987–2017 (Sixuvus Ltd) in 2008. Left to right – front row: David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Jeff Olson / back row: Ray Simpson, Alex Briley, Eric Anzalone The band returned in 1987 with the line-up of Randy Jones, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley, and Ray Simpson, and formed
Sixuvus Ltd, a group that managed the affairs of the group and had the license to use the name Village People and its characters in use until 2017. The 1990s brought a resurgence for the Village People. On September 22, 1991, they performed in front of 41,815 in
Sydney, Australia, as part of the pre-game entertainment for the
New South Wales Rugby League Grand Final held at the
Sydney Football Stadium. They also performed a medley of self-parody songs at the
MTV Movie Awards – "In the Movies" ("In the Navy"), "Psycho Bitch" ("Macho Man"), and "My MTV" ("Y.M.C.A."). The group also made a guest appearance on the hit show
Married... with Children in the episode "
Take My Wife, Please". Founder Jacques Morali died of complications related to
AIDS in
Paris on November 15, 1991. Three years later, the Village People recorded with the
Germany national football team on its official
World Cup '94 song
Far Away in America. In 1995, Eric Anzalone replaced Glenn Hughes as the Leatherman/Biker, and made his music video debut with
Kelsey Grammer,
Rob Schneider and other cast members during the end-credits of the film
Down Periscope, performing "In The Navy" with Ray Simpson on lead vocals. At the beginning of the 21st century, Village People released two singles, "Gunbalanya" (2000) and "Loveship 2001" (2001), under the name "Amazing Veepers". It was reported in 2001 that 'Gunbalanya', which was recorded with indigenous Australian people, took its title from a word meaning "in the tribe", even though it is in fact the name of an Aboriginal settlement. Leatherman/Biker Glenn Hughes died of lung cancer in New York City on March 4, 2001. Village People performed as the opening act for
Cher on her
Farewell Tour until it ended in April 2005. Former cowboy Randy Jones would later marry Will Grega, his boyfriend of 20 years. Later in the 2000s, Village People continued to make appearances worldwide. The original lead singer and "cop", Victor Willis, was arrested on drug- and weapon-related charges. On September 12, 2008, Village People received a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Willis was not in attendance at the ceremony. Willis gave his first live concert in 28 years in Las Vegas on August 3, 2007, and married Karen, a lawyer and executive, later that year. In May 2012, Willis won a landmark ruling in the first case heard regarding the
Copyright Act of 1976, which allows recording artists and writers to reclaim their master recordings and publishing rights initially granted to record companies and publishers after 35 years. He recaptured copyrights including "Y.M.C.A.", "Go West", "Magic Night", "Milkshake", and "In the Navy". Willis also began to recapture his 33% share of songs he co-wrote. In August 2013, Village People released a new song, "Let's Go Back to the Dance Floor", written by Harry W. Casey of
K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Jim Newman joined the group as the Cowboy, and in October 2013, Bill Whitefield joined as the Construction Worker, a role he had filled in for the group over the years (for David Hodo, who had retired). Continuing his legal quest, Willis reclaimed ownership of "Y.M.C.A." and other songs written with Jacques Morali with the removal of Henri Belolo, previously credited as a third writer. In 2015, Victor Willis would release
Solo Man, an album he recorded in 1979 featuring the Village People band. Willis appeared as himself on the game show
To Tell the Truth and performed "Y.M.C.A." the following year. Village People continued to make television appearances, such as performing "Y.M.C.A." during halftime of the Chicago Bulls game as part of '70s Night. They also appeared in several commercials, including a LetGo commercial that aired during the
2016 Summer Olympics, and a series of commercials for YOPA online estate agents in the UK.
2017–present (Victor Willis returns) In 2017, after years of legal battles over royalties and songwriting credits, Victor Willis and Can't Stop Productions settled their differences. This resulted in Willis obtaining the license to use the name and characters of Village People and returning as lead singer with a new group of background singers, while Sixuvus Ltd, which had been performing as Village People since 1987 and included original members Felipe Rose and Alex Briley, had its licence terminated. The trademark "Village People" then became the subject of litigation, but in 2018, the US District Court denied Sixuvus' preliminary injunction and ruled that only Willis's group was entitled to use the Village People trademark. Original member Rose launched his solo career and released the single "
Going Back to My Roots" (a cover of the 1977 Odyssey dance hit), which won an award for Best Dance Record at the 2018 Native American Music Awards. The rebranded group's first appearance was at the third annual
Streamy Awards. Shortly after, G.I./Sailor Sonny Earl was replaced by Atlanta native James Lee, who filled in for Earl on more shows than he performed. In November 2018, Village People released their first studio album in 33 years,
A Village People Christmas. On August 3, 2019, Village People co-creator Henri Belolo died aged 82. On November 4, 2019, the group's Christmas album was re-released as
Magical Christmas and included two additional tracks. On December 21, 2019, the group released its first Christmas single, "Happiest Time of the Year". On December 31, Village People performed live in
Times Square on ''
Fox's New Year's Eve with Steve Harvey'' and broke a world record for attendees doing the Y.M.C.A. dance (a record formerly held by the previous touring group). On April 21, 2020, the group released a new single, "If You Believe", which hit No. 25 on
Billboards Adult Contemporary chart. This was the first Top 25 hit for the group in 40 years. On June 9, Victor Willis demanded that President
Donald Trump not use Village People music at his rallies, in particular "Macho Man" and "Y.M.C.A." On September 11 that same year, it was reported that Willis said he was okay with him using "Y.M.C.A" at his campaign rallies. On September 22, the group was confirmed to be featured in the song "My Agenda" from the
Dorian Electra album
My Agenda (2020). On October 24,
Saturday Night Live performed a parody of the group's reaction to Donald Trump's use of their music at his rallies. On October 30, Willis clarified his and the group's position against Trump's use of his music at his rallies. On November 7, supporters of
President-elect Joe Biden in
Philadelphia celebrated his victory in the state of
Pennsylvania by dancing in the streets and singing "Y.M.C.A." Mark Lee, former "construction worker" between 1982 and 1985, died in April 2021. In November 2022, a third single, "Magic Christmas", was released from the group's
Magical Christmas album and entered the Billboard a/c chart at No. 23, the highest chart entry for any Village People single. In January 2025, it was announced that Willis and the Village People would be performing at the
Turning Point USA inaugural ball in celebration of
Trump's second inauguration. On January 19, 2025, Village People performed "Y.M.C.A." on Trump's pre-inauguration rally, titled "
Make America Great Again Victory Rally", at the
Capital One Arena, the most high-profile of three inauguration week performances. ==In popular culture==