page_title: Victor Willis
section_title: Solo career
hierarchical_section_title: Victor Willis / Solo career
caption_attribution_description: English: Victor Willis performing in 2008
context_page_description: Victor Edward Willis is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known as the founding member of the disco group Village People and also as lead singer and co-songwriter for all of their most successful singles. In the group he performed costumed as a policeman or a naval officer.
  The son of a Baptist preacher, Willis 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 albums in the mid-1970s for independent labels and was eventually introduced to French disco producer Jacques Morali. Morali, who dubbed him 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".
context_section_description: After leaving Village People, Willis declined offers to record and consistently refused to perform any of his Village People hits. In 2010, he appeared at several Major League Baseball stadiums, performing The Star-Spangled Banner and leading the crowd for the traditional Y.M.C.A. 7th-inning stretch break.
  In 1979, Willis recorded a solo album which remained unreleased for over 35 years. The album, Solo Man, was finally released in August 2015.
caption: Willis performing in 2008
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