Village People police officer arrested

(03-24) 15:05 PDT SAN DIEGO -- The man who once sang as the police officer in the Village People band has been arrested. Again.

Police in Universal City arrested Victor "Macho Man" Willis, 55, early Friday morning.

A woman, who described herself as Willis' girlfriend, told police she had been choked and threatened with a knife. The woman told officers that Willis had been abusive and was out on bail on a similar assault charge from last month, police said.

Last year, when Willis was arrested in San Francisco for drug possession, he gave officers a fake name. They didn't know who he was until Willis was fingerprinted.

"Our officers recognized him," said San Diego police Sgt. Jim Schorr. "We knew we had the cop from Village People."

ABOUT VICTOR

He's the original lead singer of the Village People (1977-1980 and 1982-1984) and was the only straight member of the group. His persona was the "Cop" and "Naval Officer." His powerful R&B vocals defined the sound of the Village People and remains one of the most recognizable voices from the disco era. In addition to being a composer, he also wrote lyrics to all the group's major hits like "Macho Man," "Y.M.C.A.," "In The Navy," and many more. But there's more to Victor Willis than music, he's also an accomplished actor who performed as part of the Negro Ensemble and in numerous award winning original Broadway musicals like "The Wiz," "Hair," The River Niger," and "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," to name a few.

The son of a Baptist preacher, he grew up in San Francisco and still resides in the San Francisco bay area. He developed a knack for singing in his father's church and later perfected his writing skills there too. In the mid-1970's, he auditioned and was eventually cast in the original Broadway version of "The Wiz." It was during one of his New York performances in The Wiz that disco producers, Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, discovered the young man with the "big voice." Morali and Belolo were so impressed they developed a group concept around the voice of Victor Willis. The group which was eventually named "Village People," was formed well after Jacques Morali had already taken Victor into the studio and fully recorded the would-be-group's first album with use of background singers (not Village People members). The first album contained the hits "San Francisco" and "Hollywood." Under Victor’s lead, the Village People became one of the most successful groups of the disco era, generating numerous gold and platinum albums, American Music Awards and international awards.

In 1980 as he prepared to be cast in the mega-disco movie flop, "Can't' Stop The Music," Morali and Belolo felt the time was right for Victor Willis to go solo. Victor, who felt the whole idea of a Village People movie was a bad idea anyway, did not appear in the movie nor did he record vocals for the motion picture soundtrack. Instead, he wrote two songs for the soundtrack, "Milk Shake and "Magic Night." Upon completion of the songs, he left the Village People. The movie became a major embarrassment and hastened the end of the group as well as their new replacement lead singer.

Unfortunately for the Village People, after Victor Willis left, there were not more hits. in 1982, Jacques Morali sought to recapture the magic and hits by bringing Victor back as lead singer of the group in time for the album, "Fox On The Box." The group never recovered. The disco era had come and gone and so had the groups' superstar lead singer. However as a founding member and group leader, Victor Willis is forever associated with the Village People's success and heyday. He left the group for good in 1984.

Willis recently admitted that his struggles with substance abuse was at the core of his problems with the law which have included several arrests all related to drug abuse. In his first statement to the press in over 25 years, he said "the nightmare of drug abuse is being lifted from my life... now that the haze of drugs are gone, I'm thinking and seeing clearer now than I have in years... I'm looking forward to living the second part of my life drug free."

Since exiting the Village People, Victor Willis has consistently refused lucrative offers to record and perform live shows, i.e. he’s declined to publicly sing any of his Village People hits, thus becoming an enigma in the eyes of Village People fans and source of worldwide fascination as the press continued to cover his every move and missteps since his departure from the Village People. Through it all, the reclusive star remains the wealthiest of Village People members due to lucrative royalties he still receives from his writing credits to hits like Y.M.C.A., "In The Navy," "Macho Man," and for numerous other disco hits he wrote for artists like Patrick Juvet and The Ritchie Family.

The star recently signaled he may return to the stage though in 2007 after the release of a most anticipated book about his life and days as lead singer of the Village People. The book also deals with the excesses of the disco era that numerous recording stars from those days found difficult to shake almost 30 years later.

Trivia: He was married to “Phylicia Ayers-Willis” (1978-1984) better known as Clair Huxtable, from the "Cosby Show (Phylicia Rashad)." He convinced Jacques Morali to produce an album on his then wife titled, “Josephine Superstar,” for which he wrote the lyrics.

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