BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Village People is an American disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. Originally created by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo to target disco's gay audience by featuring popular gay fantasy personas,[1] the band's popularity quickly brought them into the mainstream. Village People scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", "In the Navy", and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.". They have sold upwards of 100 million records world-wide.[2]
History
1977–1979
The group was the creation of Jacques Morali, a French musical composer. He had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. Morali approached Willis and told him, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the self-titled debut album, Village People.[3]
It was a success, and demand for live appearances soon followed. Morali and his business partner, Henri Belolo (under the collaboration Can't Stop Productions) hastily built a group of dancers around Willis to perform in clubs and on Dick Clark's American Bandstand. The band's name refers to New York City's Greenwich Village, at the time known for its large gay population.[4] So Morali and Belolo decided to create a group of stereotypes based on the gay men of Greenwich Village, who often dressed in fantasy attire. As Village People's popularity grew, Morali, Belolo and Willis saw the need for a permanent "group." They took out an ad in a music trade magazine which read: "Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance And Have A Moustache."[3]
Morali met the first recruit, Felipe Rose (Native American), on the streets of Greenwich Village. Rose was a bartender who wore jingle bells on his boots. He was invited to take part in the sessions for the first album. Alex Briley (who started as an athlete, but eventually took on the soldier persona) was hand-picked by Victor Willis to be in the group. The others, Mark Mussler (original construction worker), Dave Forrest (original cowboy), Lee Mouton (original leatherman) and Peter Whitehead (one of the group's early songwriters) appeared on American Bandstand and in the video for the group's first hit, "San Francisco (You Got Me)". They were later replaced by David Hodo, Randy Jones and Glenn Hughes. Hughes had first been spotted as a toll collector at theBrooklyn Battery Tunnel.[3]
Songwriters Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead were brought in to write lyrics for the first album. Victor Willis took over writing duties for the group's biggest albums, (Macho Man, Cruisin and Go West) scoring the group's biggest hits, including "Y.M.C.A.", "Macho Man," "Go West" and "In the Navy," and for other Can't Stop Productions acts such as Ritchie Family and Patrick Juvet.[5]Likewise, Gypsy Lane (the Village People band) and their conductor, Horace Ott, provided much of the musical arrangements for Morali, who did not play any instruments.[6]
"Macho Man" brought them mainstream attention, and their 1978 recording "Y.M.C.A." became one of the most popular hits of the 1970s.
In 1979, the United States Navy decided to use "In the Navy" in a television and radio recruiting campaign. Belolo offered them permission if the Navy would help film the music video. The Navy provided them access to the San Diego Navy base, where the USS Reasoner (FF-1063), several aircraft, and the crew of the ship would be used. The Navy canceled the campaign after a short time.[7][not in citation given]
The group's fame peaked in 1979, when Village People made several appearances on The Merv Griffin Show and travelled with Bob Hope to entertain U.S. troops. They were also featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, Vol. 289, April 19, 1979. Willis left the group at the end of an international tour in 1979, and a decline in popularity followed.
1980–1985
Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson (of Ashford & Simpson), replaced Willis for the group's highly anticipated 1980 feature film Can't Stop the Music, directed by Nancy Walker, written byAllan Carr and Bronte Woodard, music and lyrics by Jacques Morali (although Willis penned the lyrics to "Milkshake" and "Magic Night") and starring Steve Guttenberg, Valerie Perrine, Jean-Claude Billmaer, Bruce Jenner, and Village People. By the time it was released, however, disco had waned and the movie won the Worst Picture and Worst Screenplay prizes at the 1980 Golden Raspberry Awards in March 1981 and was nominated in almost all the other categories. Despite that, the song "Can't Stop the Music" became a Club Play chart hit and moderate radio hit. However, it too (Can't Stop the Music, the song) was nominated for Worst Original Song by the 1981 Razzies, and did not live up to expectations, never obtaining gold status as a single or album.[8] The soundtrack also featured the talents of "David London", who under his real name Dennis "Fergie" Frederiksen went on to become the future lead singer of Toto and one of the main contributors to the Village People's next album. The movie itself has since become a cult favorite.
The group was one of the featured guests on a November 22, 1980 episode of Love Boat, (7th episode of season 4), entitled "Secretary to the Stars/Julie's Decision/The Horse Lover/Gopher and Isaac Buy a Horse". At the end of 1980, cowboy Randy Jones left the group and was replaced by Jeff Olson.
In 1981, with the popularity of disco having faded and New Wave music on the rise, Village People replaced its on-stage costumes with a new look inspired by the New Romantic movement, and released the New Wave album Renaissance. It only attracted minor, mostly negative attention and produced no hits.
Victor Willis returned to the group briefly in late 1981 for the album Fox on the Box, which was released in 1982 only in Europe but did have limited release in the United States in 1983 under the title In the Street. Ray Simpson left the group in 1983 and was replaced by Miles Jaye. Jaye contributed an extra track to In the Street and performed numerous live shows and television appearances. Mark Lee replaced David Hodo in 1982.
Their last album containing new material, 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 theirRenaissance album. The title track, when released as a single, was banned by the BBC because of its content - credit card dirty phone calls.[9] The Sex album featured yet another new lead singer, Ray Stephens (of The Great Space Coaster fame). Py Douglas came in to sub for Stephens for some of the group's live appearances in 1985.
In 1985, the group took a hiatus but reunited in 1987 with the line-up of Randy Jones, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley and Ray Simpson.
Since 1988, the group has managed itself under the name Sixuvus Ltd.[10]
1990s to present
- September 15, 1991: Village People perform in front of 41,815 in Sydney, Australia, as part of the pre-game entertainment for the New South Wales Rugby League Grand Final held at the Sydney Football Stadium, singing their hit "Y.M.C.A".
- November 15, 1991: Village People founder Jacques Morali dies from complications of AIDS in Paris, France.
- 1993: the group makes a guest appearance on the hit show Married... with Children in the episode "Take My Wife, Please".
- 1994: Village People join the German national football team to sing its official World Cup '94 theme Far Away in America.
- 1994: Cowboy Randy Jones sings Greg Brady's part on a punk cover of The Brady Bunch classic Time to Change.
- 1995: Eric Anzalone replaces Glenn Hughes as the Leatherman/Biker.
- 1996: Village People appears with Kelsey Grammer, Rob Schneider, and other cast members during the end-credits sequence of the film Down Periscope.
- 2000: The group releases new material under the name Amazing Veepers.
- 2001: Felipe Rose appears as himself on the game show To Tell the Truth.
- March 4, 2001: original member Glenn Hughes (Leatherman) dies from lung cancer in New York City.[11]
- 2004: Village People perform as the opening act for Cher on her Farewell Tour until it ends in April 2005. It was a highly successful tour for both artists.
- May 7, 2004: Original Cowboy Randy Jones marries Will Grega, his boyfriend of 20 years.[12]
- mid-2004: Village People perform at Lincoln Center Out Of Doors.
- September 4, 2006: Village People perform on Jerry Lewis's MDA Telethon.
- August 31, 2007: Victor Willis gives his first live concert in 28 years in Las Vegas.
- October 23, 2007: Village People perform on the NBC game show The Singing Bee.
- November 17, 2007: Victor Willis weds long-time love, Karen, a lawyer and executive.
- July 15, 2008: At the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at the first Yankee Stadium, Village People perform "Y.M.C.A." with the Yankees grounds crew during the 7th inning stretch.
- September 12, 2008: Village People receive star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- September 3, 2010: Village People perform at the American Music Festival in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
- May 8, 2012: Victor Willis wins a landmark ruling in the first case heard regarding the Copyright Act of 1976 which allows recording artists and writers to reclaim their master recordings and publishing rights initially granted to record companies and publishers after 35 years. Willis recaptured copyrights include "Y.M.C.A." "Go West", "Magic Night", "Milkshake", and "In the Navy", to name a few.[13]
- February 20, 2013: Victor Willis and David Hodo appear on the TV One series Unsung in a two-hour special retrospective on the disco era.[14]
- August 1, 2013: Village People released new song "Let's Go Back to the Dance Floor" written by Harry W. Casey of K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Jim Newman replaces Jeff Olson as the Cowboy.[15]
- September 13, 2013: Victor Willis begins to recapture his 33% share of songs he co-wrote.[16]
- October 2013: Bill Whitefield replaces David Hodo as the Construction Worker.[17]
In popular culture
Due to their easily recognizable characters, the group have frequently been imitated or parodied in films, television series, video games and music. Numerous covers and homages of their songs have been recorded. The stereotypical masculine characters, particularly the leather-clad biker character with a horseshoe moustache, have also become a widespread pop culture icons associated with male gay culture and Y.M.C.A. has become something of an anthem of the LGBT community.
The song "In the Navy" was featured in an episode of The Muppet Show and The Simpsons, the latter featuring several members' likenesses dancing in a short scene as the song is played.
In the film Wayne's World 2, Wayne and his friends disguise themselves in order to spy on Wayne's girlfriend; Wayne dresses as a construction worker, Garth as a cop, Neil as a leather-clad biker and Terry as a sailor. They are then chased and end up on the stage of a men's club where their coincidental resemblance to the Village People becomes apparent to the DJ, who immediately puts on Y.M.C.A..
A 1993 episode of Married... with Children had Peg disguising herself as the Indian, along with Kelly as the sailor, Bud as the construction worker and Jefferson as the biker in order to appease angry Hallowe'en party guests of Marcy's, and a joke being they could only lip synch to one song, Y.M.C.A., as that was the sole Village People album Marcy owned. When the real Village People appear at the party, they start their concert with Y.M.C.A., causing the enraged women who were sick of the song to pelt them with toilet paper.
In 1995, a parody of the Village People was seen on the CGI show ReBoot with the group the Small Town Binomes singing "BSnP", a parody ofY.M.C.A. They were seen in the ReBoot episode "Talent Night" and each individual was modeled after a singer from the Village People using the show's common Binome characters. Their song "BSnP" was a jab at ABC network's Broadcast Standards and Practices organization, which frequently edited content from the show which they deemed not suitable for its younger viewers (lyrics included "Oh, it's fun to play in a non-violent way").
In the 1997 U2 video for their single "Discotheque," the band members dressed up like the Village People and did a parody of their dance moves at the near-end.[18]
In 2000, in the 19th episode/5th season of Third Rock From the Sun three series characters try to rob a bank dressed up as band members while the fourth accidentally enters a gay club. In the final scene, the four main characters are joined by a policeman.
In 2006, Village People were featured in That '70s Show episode titled "We Will Rock You." When Jackie and Fez declared their love of the group, Steven Hyde was going to burn all the disco music discs they had at a "Disco Sucks" party.[19]
In 2013, the film Despicable Me 2 featured a parody of the song Y.M.C.A. in one of its final scenes. When Gru and Lucy were getting married, the minions sang this song and they all started to party.
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