Village People

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Village People
The Village People at Asbury Park, New Jersey, in 2006.
The Village People at Asbury Park, New Jersey, in 2006.
Background information
Origin New York City, NY, U.S.
Genre(s) Disco
Dance-pop
Funk
R&B
Years active 1977–present
Label(s) Casablanca Records
Black Scorpio
RCA
Polygram
Website www.OfficialVillagePeople.com
Members
G. Jeff Olson
Eric Anzalone
Ray Simpson
Felipe Rose
Alex Briley
David "Scar" Hodo
Former members
Randy Jones
Glenn Hughes (Deceased)
Victor Willis
Ray Stephens (Deceased)
Mark Lee (singer)

Village People are a concept disco group formed in the late 1970s. The group is well known for their on-stage costumes as for their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics. Original members were: police officer (Victor Willis), American Indian chief (Felipe Rose), cowboy (Randy Jones), construction worker (David Hodo), leatherman (Glenn Hughes) and Military man (Alex Briley). For the release of "In the Navy", both Willis and Briley appeared temporarily as sailors. Originally created to target disco's primarily gay fan base by featuring stereotypical gay personas, the band's popularity quickly brought them into mainstream. The group is seen by some music critics as less serious for their camp style, appearance and musical choices.

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", "Can't Stop the Music", "Sex Over the Phone" and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.".

Collectively, the Village People have sold 85 million albums and singles. The group also recorded new materials under the name "The Amazing Veepers".

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] 1977-1979

The group was created by Jacques Morali, who was a French musical composer. He had written a few songs when he heard Victor Willis singing background vocals in a studio. 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 first album, Village People.

It was a success, so Morali and his business partner, Henri Belolo, (under the collaboration Can't Stop Productions), decided to build a real group around Willis for a stage act to showcase and perform their disco music creations. They took out an ad in a trade magazine band which read: "Macho Types Wanted: Must Have Moustache." The first recruit, Indian Rose, Morali literally bumped into on the streets of Greenwich Village. Rose was a bartender who wore jingle bells on his boots. He was invited along to take part in the sessions for the first album. Alex Briley (who eventually took on the soldierman persona) was a friend of Willis'. The other three, Mark Mussler (construction worker), Dave Forrest (cowboy) and the original leatherman, were quickly replaced, respectively, by Dave Hodo, Randy Jones and Glenn Hughes, who all had more experience as actors/singers/dancers. Leatherman Hughes had first been been spotted as a toll collector at the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Early on, one of the group's songwriters, Peter Whitehead, even performed with the group for a brief time.

Despite the French songwriters, the songs lyrics were all in English as Morali and Belolo used American lyricists. On the first album, they brought in songwriting legends Phil Hurtt and the aforementioned Peter Whitehead. For the next three albums (and on other Can't Stop Productions such as Ritchie Family and Patrick Juvet) lead singer Willis was the lyricist.

The band's name references New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood, at the time known for having a substantial gay population. Morali and Belolo got the inspiration for creating an assembly of American man archetypes based on the gay men of The Village who frequently dressed in various fantasy attire.[citation needed]

While the song "Macho Man" put them on the map, their 1978 anthem "Y.M.C.A." made them one of the most successful disco groups.

In 1979, the United States Navy considered using "In the Navy", another Village People hit, in a recruiting advertising campaign on television and radio. They contacted Belolo, who decided to give the rights for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. Less than a month later, Village People arrived at the San Diego Naval base. The Navy provided them with a warship, several aircraft, and hundreds of Navy men. The Navy later canceled the campaign.

Their fame reached its peak in 1979. The Village People were featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, Vol. 289, April 19, 1979.

Willis left the group at the end of 1979, and the group's downfall began.

[edit] 1980-1985

Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson (of Ashford & Simpson), stepped into Willis' shoes in time for the group's highly anticipated 1980 feature film Can't Stop the Music, directed by Nancy Walker, written by Allan 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 the 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. 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 group was one of the featured guests on a November 22nd, 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 Randy Jones left the group to be replaced by Jeff Olson.

In 1981, with the popularity of disco long gone 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 attention and produced no hits.

Victor Willis returned to the group briefly in late 1981 to help out on the album Fox on the Box which was released in 1982 only in Europe but did have limited release in the U.S. in 1983 under the title In the Street. Miles Jaye had taken over for Ray Simpson as lead singer by 1983 and contributed an extra track to In the Street. Mark Lee replaced Hodo in 1982.

Although their last album containing new material, the 1985 dance/Hi-NRG release Sex Over the Phone, was not a huge commercial success, it fared better in sales and club play than their Renaissance album. The "Sex Over the Phone" music video, due to the rise of video on the Internet, has become a viral video phenomenon. The Sex album featured yet another new lead singer, Ray Stephens. Py Douglas came in to sub for Stephens for some of the group's appearances in 1985.

[edit] 1985 to present

The Village People perform "In the Navy" at Asbury Park, New Jersey, 3 June 2006.
The Village People perform "In the Navy" at Asbury Park, New Jersey, 3 June 2006.

The Village People took a leave of absence in 1985. They reunited in 1987 with the line-up of Randy Jones, David Hodo, Felipe Rose, Glenn Hughes, Alex Briley, and Ray Simpson.

  • A now rare remix album of their 1970s & early 1980s hits was released in 1989.
  • On November 15, 1991, Village People founder Jacques Morali dies from AIDS complications in Paris, France.
  • In 1994, Village People joined the German national football team to sing its official World Cup '94 theme "Far Away in America."
  • In 1994, the indie punk rock label Go Kart Records wanted the Village People to release an all Sex Pistols cover album. The group declined. Instead, Cowboy Randy Jones sang Greg Brady's part on a punk cover of The Brady Bunch classic 'Time to Change'.
  • In 2001, Felipe Rose appeared as himself on the game show, To Tell the Truth.
  • On March 4, 2001, original member Glenn Hughes (Leatherman) died from lung cancer in New York City.
  • Starting in 2004, Village People performed as the opening act for Cher on her Farewell Tour until it ended in April 2005. It was a highly successful tour for both artists.
  • From July 18 to July 20, 2004, Village People performed in Berlin for three shows as an opening act for the German punk band Die Ärzte.
  • On June 6, 2006 Village People were scheduled to be the headline act at Asbury Park's famous Gay Pride parade and festival.
  • On June 20, 2006, Victor Willis, original lead singer, made his first direct statement to the media in over 25 years indicating that the "nightmare of drug abuse" is being lifted from his life and that he looked forward to being released into a residential drug treatment program. Moreover, he apologized to Village People fans for refusing to perform live concerts since leaving Village People. In that same press statement, Victor Willis revealed that a book based on his life as lead singer of Village People is due for release in 2008 and he will embark on an international tour to coincide with its release.
  • On September 5, 2006, Willis was ordered released from custody and into the Betty Ford Center. He was given 3 years probation and ordered to abstain from further use of drugs.
  • On July 4, 2006 Village People opened for Los Lonely Boys at the Chevy Freedom Over Texas Fourth of July extravaganza.
  • On September 4, 2006, Village People performed at The 2006 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.
  • On September 30, 2006, Village People performed at Hard Rock Cafe in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
  • On August 31, 2007, Victor Willis gave his first live concert in 28 years, in Las Vegas.
  • On October 8, 2007, Village People performed at Toyota in Torrance, CA.
  • On October 23, 2007, Village People performed on the NBC game show The Singing Bee.
  • On October 31, 2007, Victor Willis took the stage in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
  • On November 17, 2007, Victor Willis wed his long-time love Karen, a lawyer and executive.

[edit] Cultural references

Star Wars characters, a Jawa, Greedo, Chewbacca and a stormtrooper, take on the iconic roles of the Village People and lead the crowd in the "Y.M.C.A." dance at a Disney weekend event in 2007.
Star Wars characters, a Jawa, Greedo, Chewbacca and a stormtrooper, take on the iconic roles of the Village People and lead the crowd in the "Y.M.C.A." dance at a Disney weekend event in 2007.

Due to their easily recognizable characters, the group have frequently been imitated or parodied in films, TV-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 handlebar moustaches, have also become a widespread pop culture icons associated with male gay culture and YMCA has become something of an anthem of the LGBT movement.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Main albums

Album Title Release Year
Village People 1977
Macho Man 1978
Cruisin' 1978
Go West 1979
Live and Sleazy 1979
Can't Stop the Music 1980
Renaissance 1981
Fox on the Box 1982
In the Street 1983
Sex Over the Phone 1985

[edit] Compilations & other albums

The cover of Greatest Hits: Remixed.
The cover of Greatest Hits: Remixed.
  • Live: Seoul Song Festival (1984)
  • Greatest Hits (1988)
  • Greatest Hits '89 Remixes (1989)
  • The Best of Village People (1994)
  • The Very Best Of (1998)
  • 20th Century Masters, The Millennium Collection...The Best of Village People (2001)

[edit] Singles

[edit] Lineup

The Village People have had a number of lineup changes over the years.

[edit] Original 'People'

Original cowboy Randy Jones in 2007.
Original cowboy Randy Jones in 2007.

[edit] Replacement 'People'

Replacement cowboy at Asbury Park, New Jersey in June 2006.
Replacement cowboy at Asbury Park, New Jersey in June 2006.
  • Mark Mussler - the Construction Worker, 1977 (prior to Hodo)
  • Dave Forrest - the Cowboy, 1977 (prior to Jones)
  • Peter Whitehead - co-songwriter with Willis, Henri Belolo, Phil Hurtt & Jacques Morali, briefly performed onstage with the group 1977
  • Eric Anzalone - the Leatherman/Biker, replacement, since 1995
  • G. Jeff Olson - the Cowboy, replacement, 1980-1985, 1991- present.
  • Ray Simpson - the Policeman, replacement, 1979-1982; 1987-present. He was the lead vocalist for Can't Stop the Music and its soundtrack, Renaissance, and select tracks on Live and Sleazy and Fox on the Box / In the Street.
  • Miles Jaye - the Policeman, replacement, 1983-1984. He was the lead vocalist on the In the Street bonus track "America" and "Live: Seoul".
  • Ray Stephens- the Policeman, replacement, 1985. He was the lead vocalist on Sex Over The Phone. He died in 1990.
  • Py Douglas - The Policeman. Briefly replaced Ray Stephens in some TV appearances during their ' 85 European tour promoting album Sex Over the Phone...
  • Mark Lee - the Construction Worker, 1982-1985. On the albums Fox on the Box, In the Street, Live: Seoul", and Sex Over the Phone
  • Bill Whitefield - the Construction Worker. Made some concert appearances in 2002 and 2003.
  • Alex Timmerman - the G.I. Made some concert appearances in 2004.

[edit] Set list

When performing in other parts of the world the band will open with "Go West" instead of "We're an American Band". In Australia and parts of Asia, "Milkshake" and "Can't Stop the Music" are. In Italy the band is asked to perform "5 O'Clock in the Morning", and "Sex Over the Phone" due to the success over there. Other selections include "Fire Island", "Hot Cop", "Key West", "Rock n Roll is Back", "Ready For the 80s", "Save Me" (done as a ballad with Alexander Briley (G.I.) doing a solo), "Magic Night" and a cover of "Gimmie Some Lovin".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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