Victor Edward Willis (born July 1, 1951) is a singer, songwriter, actor; and most known as the original lead singer of the disco group Village People. His persona was the "Cop" and "Naval Officer". The son of a Baptist preacher, he developed his singing skills in his father's church. With training in acting and dance, he went to New York and joined the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company. He appeared in many musicals and plays, including the original Broadway production of The Wiz in 1976 and subsequently, the Australian production. Willis also had written and recorded several demos of music in the mid-1970s and was eventually introduced to French disco producer Jacques Morali. Morali, who dubbed Willis the "young man with the big voice", approached Willis and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing lead and background vocals under the auspices of Village People, a non-existent concept group which included the hits "San Francisco (You've Got Me)" and "In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)". The album became a huge hit in the burgeoning disco market. After an offer from Dick Clark for the group to perform on American Bandstand, Morali and Willis were pressed to develop a "real" group around Willis to perform live. They did so by placing an ad in music trade papers for "macho" singers who "could also dance" and "must have a mustache."
Willis was soon writing hit after hit produced by and co-written with Morali. Village People quickly rose to the top of the charts with Willis at the helm scoring numerous chart busters such as "Macho Man", "Y.M.C.A.", "In the Navy", and "Go West".
The guy who played the original cop in the Village People claims he recently had a meeting with "American Idol" execs ... who told him that he's a "dark horse candidate" to be a judge on the show!… READ MORE >
