Victor Willis, who has died aged 74 after suffering from “a short but aggressive illness”, was the lead vocalist of the disco group Village People, and the most instantly memorable member of this most flamboyant of combos. Willis would often perform onstage wearing the uniform of a policeman or a naval officer, while his bandmates dressed as a cowboy, a construction worker, a GI, a leather-clad biker or a Native American chief.

The idea, conceived by the group’s svengalis, Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, was that they would represent a range of American male stereotypes.

Their biggest and most enduring hit was YMCA, which reached No 2 in the US in 1978 as well as topping charts in the UK and around the world. The ultimate party stomper and evergreen dancefloor favourite, the song is frequently heard at sports events, weddings and nightclubs, though in 2024 Willis raised eyebrows when he threatened to sue any media organs that characterised the song, which he co-wrote, as a gay anthem.

He explained: “When I say [in the song], ‘hang out with all the boys’, that is simply 1970s Black slang for Black guys hanging out together for sports, gambling or whatever. There’s nothing gay about that.”

The Village People’s other big hits included Macho Man (which reached No 25 in the US, also 1978), In the Navy (No 3 in the US, 2 in the UK) and Go West (15 in Britain, but only 45 in the States, both 1979), all co-written by Willis. The US Navy considered using In the Navy as a recruitment booster, replacing its venerable theme tune Anchors Aweigh. They even supplied a frigate and half a dozen Phantom jets to feature in a promotional video, but backed away from the project on belatedly learning that Village People had become iconic figures in gay culture.

The group also scored successes on the album charts, with Cruisin’ and Go West reaching the US Top 10 in 1978 and 1979, but as the 80s dawned, their allure began to fade. Willis left during pre-production of the 1980 film Can’t Stop the Music, loosely based on Village People’s rise to fame. When it appeared, with the band’s backup singer Ray Simpson replacing Willis, the disco boom was collapsing and the film was a dismal flop.

Outside the group, Willis found his options were limited and his efforts to launch a solo career were unsuccessful. He made a one-off reunion with Village People for the album Fox on the Box (1982), a ghastly failure that was not even released in the US or the UK.

“I got very depressed over the years and decided to just drop off the map,” he recalled in 2015. “So much had been taken away from me that I just turned to drugs.”

In 2005, he was arrested for possession of cocaine and a handgun. He pleaded no contest but failed to appear for sentencing and went on the run. Arrested again the following year, he was given probation and ordered to undergo treatment for substance abuse at the Betty Ford Clinic, the judge deciding to show leniency due to Willis’s “untapped potential”.

In 2007 he married his second wife, Karen Huff. A lawyer and entertainment executive, she helped him fight a copyright suit against Can’t Stop Productions and Scorpio Music, who controlled Village People’s hits. In 2015 he was awarded 50% ownership of a substantial number of the group’s songs.

Born in Texas, Willis grew up in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. As the son of a Baptist minister, he first experienced music through singing gospel songs in his father’s church. In his teens he was a member of a high school band, the Ballads, who had the distinction of being the opening act for the Temptations when they appeared at the Fillmore Auditorium.

He attended Antioch College in Ohio before landing a job performing in the musical Hair in Las Vegas, and subsequently moved to New York. When the producer and composer Morali and his business partner Belolo were looking for background singers for an album by the Ritchie Family, the arranger and conductor Horace Ott suggested Willis, who was then a member of the cast of the Broadway musical The Wiz, along with Phylicia Ayers-Allen (later Rashad), who would go on to star in the Cosby Show. He and Phylicia married in 1978 and divorced in 1982.

After completing the Ritchie Family recordings, Morali invited Willis to participate in a new project that he and Belolo had conceived, which would become Village People. “I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on an album I produced, and it went very, very big,” Morali told Willis. “I can’t pay you much right now but if you agree, I’ll make you a star.”

Village People, their 1977 debut album, contained only four tracks with a combined running time of a scant 22 minutes, but it reached No 54 on the US chart and prompted Morali and Belolo to build a band around Willis so they could perform in clubs and on the American Bandstand TV show. They placed ads in music trade papers that read: “Macho Types Wanted for World Famous Disco Group – Must Dance and Have a Moustache.”

In 2017, Willis returned as lead singer of a rebuilt Village People. They received recognition from an unexpected quarter when the US president Donald Trump started using YMCA and Macho Man at rallies on his 2020 re-election campaign, and again during his 2024 presidential campaign. Willis initially opposed Trump’s usage, and his wife sent him a “cease-and-desist” letter, but Willis subsequently changed his mind, reasoning that there was not much he could do about it and that it was “good for business”. The group even performed the song onstage with Trump before his second inauguration in January 2025.

• Victor Edward Willis, musician, singer and songwriter, born 1 July 1951; died 30 June 2026