{"id":736700,"date":"2026-07-01T10:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736700\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:25:08","slug":"village-people-lead-singer-victor-willis-dead-at-74-after-battle-with-short-aggressive-illness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/736700\/","title":{"rendered":"Village People lead singer Victor Willis dead at 74 after battle with &#8216;short, aggressive illness&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Willis, the lead singer of Village People, has died at the age of 74, the band confirmed Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are profoundly sad to announce the death of VICTOR WILLIS, lead singer of Village People,\u201d the band <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RealVillagePeople\/posts\/we-are-profoundly-sad-to-announce-the-death-of-victor-willis-lead-singer-of-vill\/1536234724536094\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said on Facebook<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cVictor passed on Monday June 30, 2026 of a short but aggressive illness. Privacy is requested.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Village People lead singer Victor Willis has died after a \u201cshort but aggressive illness,\u201d the band said. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Willis, who died one day before his 75th birthday, dressed as a cop or naval officer while performing for the beloved disco group.<\/p>\n<p>The Texas-born singer was the lead vocalist and co-writer behind the band\u2019s biggest hits, including \u201cYMCA,\u201d \u201cGo West\u201d and \u201cIn the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYMCA,\u201d released in 1978, became an\u00a0anthem at President Trump\u2019s campaign rallies\u00a0in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Willis and the group had previously objected to the song\u2019s use by Trump, sending a cease-and-desist to the commander in chief in 2023 after \u201cMacho Man\u201d was played at an event at Mar-a-Lago.<\/p>\n<p>He and the band also backed Kamala Harris during the 2024 election cycle, but they\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2025\/01\/19\/celebrity-news\/donald-trump-busts-out-viral-dance-moves-to-ymca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">later performed during Trump\u2019s 2025 inauguration at the \u201cMAGA Victory\u201d rally<\/a>\u00a0in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>President Trump greets Victor Willis with Melania Trump and JD Vance look on January 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>President Trump with Village People onstage at his victory rally at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.  Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur song \u2018YMCA\u2019 is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost,\u201d Willis wrote on Facebook at the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTherefore, we believe it\u2019s now time to bring the country together with music which is why Village People will be performing at various events as part of the 2025 inauguration of Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Village People\u2019s name references Manhattan\u2019s Greenwich Village, long associated with gay culture, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/01\/17\/entertainment\/why-village-people-are-performing-at-trump-inauguration-events\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Willis often pushed back on the idea that \u201cYMCA\u201d is a gay anthem<\/a>, saying people need to \u201cget their minds out of the gutter\u201d and arguing the interpretation is \u201cbased solely on the song\u2019s lyrics alluding to [illicit] activity for which it does not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Willis dressed as the cop in Village People in the late 1970s. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Village People at the 2017 Streamy Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on September 26, 2017. Matt Winkelmeyer<\/p>\n<p>Born Victor Edward Willis in Dallas and raised in San Francisco, he began singing gospel music in his dad\u2019s Baptist church before moving into acting and Broadway, including a role in \u201cThe Wiz.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>He later teamed with French producer Jacques Morali in the mid-1970s to form Village People.<\/p>\n<p>Willis left the group in 1980 and later spent years in a legal battle over songwriting credits. He rejoined in 2017, eventually becoming the only remaining original member.<\/p>\n<p>Willis (pictured on Oct. 22, 2025) had recently toured Europe with Village People, with more dates planned this summer. Jam Press<\/p>\n<p>Willis performs onstage at the Chicago Stadium, Illinois, June 21, 1979. Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Willis won a legal victory in 2012 that helped him reclaim rights to some of the group\u2019s biggest songs, including \u201cYMCA,\u201d \u201cGo West\u201d and \u201cIn the Navy,\u201d before a jury later ruled he and Morali were the sole writers of 13 Village People tracks.<\/p>\n<p>He married Karen Huff-Willis in 2007, and the couple lived in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n<p>Village People recently completed the first leg of a European tour in May, with additional shows planned in Italy and France later this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victor Willis, the lead singer of Village People, has died at the age of 74, the band confirmed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,7569,91,88,316932],"class_list":["post-736700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-the-village-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}