Village People

Soon Village People became a real group but was revamped to form a second iteration in time for release of the Macho Man album. This second version of Village People became known as the classic version, which became an international phenomenon and the second album, Macho Man, soon went platinum (over one million albums sold) featuring the album’s namesake platinum single, “Macho Man.”

This was followed by the third double platinum album titled Cruisin’ which featured the blockbuster hit “Y.M.C.A.” Next up was the platinum album Go West featuring the gold single “In the Navy.” The group’s sixth album went gold, titled: Live & Sleazy, which featured Victor Willis performing all the prior hits live from the Greek Theatre, while introducing new lead singers for the Sleazy portion of the album as Victor Willis prepared to exit the group.

In November 1979, Willis exited the group during filming of the Can’t Stop the Music movie and motion picture soundtrack. This marked the group’s first album to not be certified gold or platinum by the RIAA coinciding with Willis’ exit. Willis wrote the songs “Magic Night” and “Milk Shake,” for the movie.

The disco era ended, and Village People soon disbanded. Willis returned to the group in 1982 to record Fox on the Box album and remained as lead singer of Village People until 1987.

A touring version of the group (without Willis) with use of pre-recorded music/tracks and numerous replacement members followed in the late-1980s. Over the years, various replacement members continued to tour as a track act well into the 2000s.

Willis returned again as lead singer in 2017 leading up to the group’s 40th anniversary. Village People’s iconic cop and writer of the group’s biggest hits, including “YMCA,” “Macho Man,” “Go West,” and “In the Navy,” was once again at the helm of Village People with live musicians backing the group as he originally conceived.

The group returned to the charts in 2019 with a Christmas Album and in 2020 with “Happiest Time of the Year,’ and “If You Believe,” and in 2023 with “Magic Christmas,” all written by Willis, with each song breaking into the top 20 and Top 10 of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. In 2024, the group returned to the charts again with “Goddess of Love,” #17.

In 2020, YMCA was inducted into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry. The following year, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The group continues to perform worldwide and is more popular now than ever.