Village People co-founder Victor Willis dies at 74

Victor Willis, the Texas-born co-founder and longtime creative force behind the Village People, died at 74 after a short but aggressive illness, his wife and the band said. Willis co-wrote hits including “Y.M.C.A.” and “Macho Man,” later rejoined the group aft

Victor Willis knew the distance between fame and silence—then lived long enough to hear his music used in ways he didn’t choose.

The Texas-born co-founder and lead singer of the disco group Village People died at 74. his wife and the band said in Facebook posts on Wednesday. His wife. Karen-Huff Willis. wrote on the musician’s Facebook page. “It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband. VICTOR WILLIS. Victor passed away on Tuesday June 30. 2026 as a result of a short. but aggressive illness.” The band shared a similar statement on its Facebook page.

Willis co-wrote and helped shape the songs that turned Village People into a late-1970s pop culture phenomenon. Alongside the group’s flamboyant costumes and choreography. those hits—“Y.M.C.A. ” “In the Navy” and “Macho Man”—swept the world’s dancefloors. The group’s camp fantasy characters—messy with swagger—were built around butch builders. bikers. cowboys and soldiers. aimed at disco’s large gay audience.

Even after leaving the group in 1980, Willis remained a central figure in what people heard when they heard the band. In the years that followed, he struggled with drug addiction and took a plea deal over cocaine possession in 2006. In 2015. he told the San Diego Union Tribune. “I got very depressed over the years and decided to just drop off the map. So I got into drugs.”.

But it was “Y.M.C.A.”—with lyrics urging “young men” to head to the Young Men’s Christian Association in New York—that became the song most people couldn’t stop singing. It developed its own life as an anthem for the LGBTQ community and beyond.

Willis also spoke about the way that life changed when the song was taken up by the American right wing. Some people have said “Y.M.C.A.” was co-opted following its use at rallies and events supporting President Trump. Willis pushed back on that framing when he spoke to the BBC in 2020. “I don’t endorse Trump, I’ve never endorsed Trump, nor has the Village People,” he said. “But because of the copyright laws in the United States. he’s able to play our music any time he wants to.”.

That question of control and permission never stayed theoretical. The band performed “Y.M.C.A.” at a Trump rally in January 2025, before Mr. Trump’s inauguration for his second term as president. At the time. Willis said. “Let’s give President Trump a chance. regardless of what you may have thought about him in the past. 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.”.

Willis’s relationship with the band also shifted through the courts. In 2012. when Willis was away from the group. a judge ruled the singer could reclaim at least partial ownership of the copyrights to more than two dozen of their songs. including “Y.M.C.A. ” “Macho Man” and “In the Navy.” The resolution paved the way for his return to the group in 2017.

Across decades. the details of Willis’s life—addiction. legal battles over music rights. and public arguments over what “Y.M.C.A.” should mean—reflect a career that never fully stood still. By the time he left the group in 1980. then rejoined in 2017. the songs he helped write had already become bigger than any single performer.

And now, with his death announced Tuesday, June 30, 2026, the man behind the hooks and the showmanship has gone quiet. The band’s Facebook message and his wife’s statement will not settle the debates that followed his music into politics and culture. but they close a chapter that many people still hear every time the crowd turns and sings.

Victor Willis Village People Y.M.C.A. Macho Man In the Navy disco LGBTQ anthem Trump rally copyright Karen-Huff Willis