R.I.P. Victor Willis (Village People)
The Very Best of the Village People (Aug 21, 2001)
How fitting that Victor Willis, the police officer of the gay iconic band The Village People, had died at the end of Pride Month. Although Willis argued that the Village People were not a gay band, I find it, er, hard to believe, when you see the ‘Macho Man’ fantasy leatherman biker and sweaty shirtless construction worker. Besides, the disco band’s creator, Jacques Morali, took the name from the ‘gayborhood’ of the Greenwich Village. You must lack gaydar to not sense it.
Still, I think Willis only, er, came out to de-gay the song, was because President Donald Trump absolutely loves the song “Y.M.C.A.”, which he uses for his campaign.
The Village People was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo. Although Victor Willis did not write the first album (songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead were hired to write the lyrics for the first album), Willis would later contribute to some of their biggest hit songs, including their signature song, “Y.M.C.A.”
Willis even went so far as to remove Henri Belolo from the songwriting credit in 2013… even though the copyright registry from Casablanca Records listed Belolo, alongside Morali and Willis, as one of three co-songwriters since 1978. Personally speaking, I think this is just pure greed on Willis’ part. The record label (I don’t think the then-77-year-old French songwriter flew in from France just to make a court appearance) defended its case, claiming that Belolo wrote the lyrics in French, which then Willis adapted to English. Morali who could have vouched for Belolo, died in 1991 (and he had no issues with crediting Belolo as co-songwriter in 1978 through 1991). I tend to believe Belolo’s record label, because the last 30-ish years there were no disputes… and then suddenly, when the song is popular again with the Maga Movement, Willis, er, came out swinging and wanting his 50% cut of the song royalties.
Read more Musicians and singers who died.
