Victor Willis, the co-founder and lead singer of the disco singing group that President Donald Trump has made a staple of his events, Village People, died Tuesday, according to the band. He died one day before his birthday at the age of 74.
Willis was the one in the group dressed as a police officer, and wrote all of the group's most famous songs, including its biggest hit: "Y.M.C.A."
Thanks to Trump using that song at rallies beginning in 2020, the nearly 50-year-old anthem about what a "young man" can find by staying at a hostel has seen both a resurgence as well as a flood of complaints because of its association with the president.
“We are profoundly sad to announce the death of Victor Willis, lead singer of Village People,” reads a statement posted to the band’s official Facebook Page. “Victor passed on Tuesday June 30, 2026 of a short but aggressive illness,” the group said in its statement. “Privacy is requested.”
Willis's wife, Karen Huff Willis, issued a similarly-worded statement on Facebook, stating: "It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, Victor Willis. 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."
Willis was born in Dallas Texas on July 1, 1951, and grew up in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, where he sang gospel in his father's Baptist church. With training in acting and dance, he relocated to New York and joined the Negro Ensemble Company, appearing in numerous musicals and plays, including the original Broadway production of The Wiz in 1976, according to Variety.
Willis said the events of his youth inspired him to write "Y.M.C.A.," The New York Times reported. But to call it a "gay anthem" was a “false assumption,” Willis claimed. He said he wrote the lyrics based on “the things I knew about the Y in the urban areas of San Francisco such as swimming, basketball, track, and cheap food and cheap rooms.”
Following "Y.M.C.A.," Village People had other hit songs including “Go West” and “In the Navy," all written by Willis, but he left the group in 1979 in hopes of embarking on a solo career. He re-formed the group in 2017.
Three years later, the group's fan-in-chief, President Trump, started being photographed dancing to "Y.M.C.A." at campaign rallies.
Willis claimed to have been inundated with thousands of complaints from fans who didn't want the song associated with the 45th president, and he said he decided to ask the re-election campaign “to stop using 'Y.M.C.A.' because his use had become a nuisance to me.”
But he never did, and cited two reasons: Trump “seems to genuinely like 'Y.M.C.A.' and he’s having a lot of fun with it. As such, I simply didn’t have the heart to prevent his continued use of my song,” Willis said in a 2024 statement. He added the “financial benefits have been great,” as a result.
Trump paid tribute to Willis on his social media with a post that largely focused on himself: How he had reignited sales of that song and how big the crowds were at his rallies.
"Village People singer Victor Willis is dead at 74. He was a great and happy guy who loved that I used his groups song, YMCA, at my Rallies," he wrote. "It became a 'monster' hit, again, 30 years after its original launch. Many singers and groups wanted to get on board at the Rallies after all of the Rally Attendance Records were set - The crowds were, and are, enormous - But Victor and the group was there for us right from the beginning! They loved the action, and we loved them and their great and uplifting song. We will think of Victor every time YMCA is played, like today, and all throughout this July Fourth Birthday week. My condolences to his wonderful family and group, Victor Willis will be sorely missed, God Bless Him!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
U.S. President Donald Trump dances to the final performance of the Village People during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 05, 2025 in Washington, D.C.Hector Vivas - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
Willis and Village People performed in Washington, D.C. as recently as last December — and President Trump got up to dance to them singing "Y.M.C.A." — during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. That was about two weeks before he renamed the cultural facility the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center, which a judge ordered Trump's name be removed from the landmark building in May.
The president actually joined the group on stage to dance along to "Y.M.C.A." the night before his second inauguration in January 2025.
President-Elect Donald Trump dances as the Village People perform the song "YMCA" at a rally at the Capital One Arena on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president on January 20.Kevin Carter/Getty Images
In the late 1970's,Willis was introduced to French disco producer Jacques Morali, who asked him to be the front-man for his new album. Village People made their debut in July 1977. An appearance on American Bandstand the following year was so well-received, Willis assembled a full group of performers to join him. They were the those costumed characters audiences have loved for generations: A cop (Willis), a Native American chief, a construction worker, a soldier, a man dressed in leather and a cowboy.
President-Elect Donald Trump watches the Village People perform "YMCA" on stage at his victory rally at the Capital One Arena on January 19, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president on January 20.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
As Variety reported, the Library of Congress described “Y.M.C.A.” as “an American phenomenon” in March 2020, and added the song to the National Recording Registry. The following year, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
