Rounding things out were 27-year old Glenn Hughes as the heavily-mustached Biker/Leather Man, and 25-year old Randy Jones as the ten-gallon hat and chaps wearing Cowboy. Nineteen year-old Felipe Rose, who was Lakota Sioux/Puerto Rican, presented as the “Indian,” a bespangled, war bonnet and loin cloth-wearing Native American, and 31-year old David Hodo was the helmeted, mirror sunglass-wearing Construction Worker. Twenty-six year-old Alexander Briley, who was also African American (and heterosexual), took the role of enlisted GI/Sailor (he started out as a suspenders-wearing, boom box-toting “street kid”). Costumed, as he eventually would be, as a Police Officer/Naval officer (he started out as a well-dressed “disco man”), Willis would go on to co-write several of the group’s hits. Twenty-one year-old Victor Willis, who was African American and heterosexual, was the soulful voice of the group. Village People consisted of six members, each of whom personified a popular gay archetype. Gypsy Lane, talented musicians from Philadelphia, created the music heard on Village People’s first album. He also created the vocal arrangements and sang the guide track over which the group would eventually sing. At the time best known for co-writing “I’ll Be Around,” a top ten hit for the Spinners, Hurtt revised and “tamed” writer Peter Whitehead’s original lyrics, making them more palatable for mainstream audiences. Singer/songwriter Phil Hurtt was the one who broadened the album’s appeal.
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The titles were self-explanatory: “Fire Island” (the East Coast’s gay summer retreat) “San Francisco (You’ve Got Me)” (the West coast’s premier gay destination) “Village People” (a look at the inhabitants of New York City’s largely gay Greenwich Village) and “In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star),” the promise of artistic accomplishment in the word’s entertainment capital. The songs targeted a niche record buying audience: gay discotheques and their patrons. Nineteen seventy-seven’s eponymous “Village People” album was a collection of just four songs–a slim 22 minutes, recorded by a group of studio musicians and an unknown singer.
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The brainchild of French/Moroccan music producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo–who’d previously made a name for themselves with two top twenty hits for the Ritchie Family–1975’s “Brazil” and 1976’s “The Best Disco in Town”–Village People, it was decided, was going to do what the Ritchie Family had not managed to: ascend to the number one spot on the all-important “Billboard” pop charts. They kept the lights on elsewhere as well. As Casablanca Records President Neil Bogart once unequivocally observed, “It’s just Donna (Summer) and the boys (Village People): they’re the ones who keep the lights on around here.” If that doesn’t happen you might watch as someone throws their arms into the air and contorts them into the shape of the letters Y, M, C, and A.ĭuring the late 1970s and early ’80s, Village People sold more than 100 million records, had three top ten pop hits, four top twenty dance/club hits, toured the world (selling out New York City’s 20,789-seat Madison Square Garden twice), and made a major motion picture–1980’s “Can’t Stop the Music.” They were award winners, television staples and pop culture icons whose music played everywhere: from discotheques to doctor’s offices, from underground sex clubs to bar mitzvahs, from sporting events to the local mall. Mention the Village People and you’ll probably hear a snicker or two, or get a pointed pursed lip and side-eye. Still, their outsize fantasy, one that they’d work tirelessly to achieve, would prove to be enough. Learn more about how that came to be below.Īside from their shared dream of becoming rich and famous, Village People–all six band members–really didn’t have much in common.
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Today, on the final day of Pride, the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, with the help of author Josiah Howard, looks back at one of its most recent and best-known additions–the Village People’s “YMCA.” Though, today, you’ll hear the track at everything from a school dance to a 50th anniversary party, it has also been adopted by the gay community as one of its unofficial anthems.