Village People

Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the release of the debut album ''Village People'', which targeted disco's large gay audience. The group's name refers to Manhattan's Greenwich Village, with its reputation as a gay neighborhood. The characters were a symbolic group of American masculinity and macho gay-fantasy personas. As of 2022, Victor Willis is the only original member of the group.

The group quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream, scoring several disco and dance hits internationally, including the hit singles " Macho Man", "In the Navy", " Go West", and "Y.M.C.A.", which was their biggest hit. In March 2020, the Library of Congress described "Y.M.C.A." as "an American phenomenon", and added the song to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

History

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''.Village People, ''Rolling Stone'', Vol. 289, April 19, 1979

Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead wrote the lyrics for the first album (Willis would subsequently take over writing duties in 1978 for the group's biggest hits). The Village People studio band was called '' Gypsy Lane'', conducted by Horace Ott, who also provided much 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 hastily built a group of dancers around Willis to perform in clubs and videos. Morali met the first recruit, Felipe Rose (who claims indigenous American descent and dressed as a Native American), in a New York gay bar called the Anvil. Willis hand-picked Alex Briley (who initially appeared in nondescript costumes before switching to G.I. uniforms). 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)".

With record sales soaring, Morali and Willis saw the need to create a permanent group. They took out an ad in a theatre trade paper which read: ''"''Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance And Have A Moustache.''"'' Glenn Hughes (leatherman), David Hodo (construction worker) and Randy Jones (cowboy) were among the hundreds who answered the ad.

With the "official" lineup in place, the group did a hasty photo-shoot for the cover of the already-recorded '' Macho Man'' album. The album's title track catapulted the group into the mainstream, and their single "Y.M.C.A.", from the group's third album '' Cruisin''', became one of the most popular hits of the 1970s.

In 1979, the United States Navy considered using their single "In the Navy" in a television and radio recruiting campaign. Belolo offered them permission if the Navy would help film a music video for it. The Navy provided them access to the San Diego Navy base, where the , several aircraft, and the crew of the ship would be used. 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 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''. He was replaced by Ray Simpson, the 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 now retitled ''Can't Stop the Music'' was released. The film was directed by Nancy Walker, written by Allan Carr and Bronte Woodard, music and lyrics by Jacques Morali (except Willis who penned the lyrics to "Milkshake" and "Magic Night") and starring Steve Guttenberg, Valerie Perrine, Jean-Claude Billmaer, and Bruce Jenner. By the time it was released disco's popularity had waned. At the March 1981 Golden Raspberry Awards, the movie was named Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay, and was 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 Worst Original Song "Razzie" 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 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 ''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'', which was released in 1982 in Europe and Japan, and in 1983 in the United States 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
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