Victor Willis, 74, the lead singer of the 1970’s disco-group Village Individuals, has died, his workforce mentioned Wednesday.
Restricted time: Save 25% on NBC Information subscription
Get unique reporting, dwell Q&As and ad-free studying.
“We’re profoundly unhappy to announce the dying of VICTOR WILLIS, lead singer of Village Individuals,” based on an announcement posted on the band’s official Fb Web page.
“Victor handed on Tuesday June 30, 2026 of a brief however aggressive sickness,” it added. “Privateness is requested.”
His spouse, Karen Huff Willis, later issued the same assertion on Fb.
Texas-born Willis was a co-founder and authentic lead singer for the band, which loved hit singles together with “Y.M.C.A.,” “Go West” and “Within the Navy.”
He left the group in 1979 in hopes of embarking on a solo profession earlier than reforming the group in 2017, resulting in disputes with a few of his former bandmates.
“Y.M.C.A.,” the catchy track that always noticed Willis dress-up as a cop, noticed a resurgence in recognition after President Donald Trump started dancing to the 1978 hit on the finish of his marketing campaign rallies in 2020.
Willis mentioned he obtained 1000’s of complaints about the usage of the track at Trump’s occasions and had determined to ask the president “to cease utilizing Y.M.C.A. as a result of his use had change into a nuisance to me.”
He quickly after concluded that Trump “appears to genuinely like Y.M.C.A. and he’s having numerous enjoyable with it. As such, I merely didn’t have the guts to forestall his continued use of my track,” he mentioned in a prolonged assertion in 2024. He added the “monetary advantages have been nice,” consequently.
Willis carried out the track at President Trump’s pre-inauguration rally in January 2025.
He additionally known as it a “false assumption” that Y.M.C.A. was written to be a “homosexual anthem.”
He mentioned he wrote the lyrics to the track primarily based on “the issues I knew in regards to the Y within the city areas of San Francisco resembling swimming, basketball, monitor, and low-cost meals and low-cost rooms.”
