Victor Willis’ wife has paid moving tribute to the Village People frontman after he died aged 74.
The Texas-born musician was the lead singer of the 1970s disco group and co-writer of the band’s biggest hits including YMCA, Go West and In The Navy.
He died on Tuesday after battling a “short but aggressive illness”, his partner Karen Huff Willis revealed.
“It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, VICTOR WILLIS,” she wrote on his official Facebook page.
“Victor passed away on Tuesday June 30, 2026 as a result of a short, but aggressive illness. The family request privacy at this time of great loss.”
The band shared a similar statement on the band’s official Facebook page.
YMCA shot to international stardom in the 1970s by performing while dressed as stereotypically macho characters, with Willis alternating between a policeman and a naval officer.
The iconic group’s name is a nod to Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, the historical heart of New York’s LGBTQ+ scene.
Willis was discovered via a demo tape and he recorded the first Village People album solo, co-writing several of the tracks. Fellow co-writer Henri Belolo died aged 82 in 2019.
When the album became a hit, Can’t Stop Productions recruited dancers to join Willis on the club circuit and the group adopted their character costumes.
After Willis left the band in 1979, numerous other singers took over his lead singer role and Village People continued performing.
He met his lawyer wife Karen in the early 1990s at a restaurant in San Francisco. The couple became friends and stayed in touch for more than a decade.
When they met, Karen didn’t know he was famous, recalling: "We went to dinner and Victor said 'By the way, I didn't tell you I was the original lead singer for the Village People.' I had to look very closely at first, I thought he was kidding.”
They began dating in 2004 and married in 2006.
Willis spent years fighting a legal battle over copyright to the songs he'd written.
He won a landmark legal battle in 2012 over the rights to hit songs YMCA and In The Navy, being awarded a 33 per cent share of the credits, which was increased to 50 per cent three years later.
The musician rejoined the band in 2017 and they toured worldwide, bringing their high-energy, disco sets to festivals and Pride events.
Village People found an unlikely fan in US president Donald Trump, who began using their music at his rallies in 2020.
Willis initially told him to stop doing so, saying: "I don't endorse Trump, I've never endorsed Trump, nor has the Village People.
“But because of the copyright laws in the United States, he's able to play our music any time he wants to."
However, the group later changed their mind and even performed at a pre-inauguration rally in 2025 when Trump secured his second White House term.
"We know this won't make some of you happy to hear, however we believe that music is to be performed without regard to politics," Willis wrote on Facebook at the time.
"Our song YMCA is a global anthem that hopefully helps bring the country together after a tumultuous and divided campaign where our preferred candidate lost."
YMCA remains Willis' biggest hit, reaching number one in 17 countries after its release in October 1978.
It also spawned a dance routine that's a staple of wedding and birthday discos worldwide.
In 2020, it was recognised by the National Recording Registry of the US Library of Congress as "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
