The disco era has officially lost one of its most definitive and recognizable voices. Victor Willis, the original lead singer, co-founder, and lyricist behind the legendary hits of the Village People, passed away on Tuesday, June 30.

He was 74 years old, leaving the world just one day shy of his 75th birthday.

His wife, attorney and entertainment executive Karen Huff-Willis, broke the news in a social media post on Wednesday morning.

“It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband,” she wrote, sharing that Willis passed away as a result of a short but aggressive illness. The band’s official Facebook page shared a matching statement, requesting privacy for the family during this time of immense loss.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Willis was a seasoned musician and actor, even appearing on Broadway in The Wiz, before he stepped into pop culture history in 1977. Alongside French producer Jacques Morali and executive Henri Belolo, Willis helped assemble a group of macho, camp fantasy archetypes originally intended to capture the energy of New York’s late-70s underground club scene.

Dressed in his signature, sharply tailored policeman or naval officer uniforms, Willis provided the soaring, soulful lead vocals that anchored the group’s undeniable mainstream crossover appeal. More than just a frontman, Willis co-wrote the lyrics to the group’s biggest international anthems, including Macho Man, In the Navy, Go West, and, of course, 1978’s monumental smash hit Y.M.C.A.

Willis left the Village People in 1980 to pursue solo work, subsequently stepping away from the spotlight and facing a highly publicized battle with drug addiction. However, his later years turned into a triumphant story of personal and artistic redemption.

In 2012, Willis won a landmark legal battle under U.S. copyright law, successfully utilizing the “termination rights” clause to reclaim partial ownership and future royalties for over two dozen of the band’s early catalog tracks. Armed with his reclaimed intellectual property and with the support of his wife, Willis officially rejoined the Village People as the lead singer in 2017, taking back his rightful place at center stage for a brand-new generation of fans.

Decades after its release, Willis’s work remains an inescapable part of global pop culture. In 2020, the Library of Congress inducted Y.M.C.A. into its National Recording Registry, cementing it as an official American phenomenon. The track was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021.