Original Village People Policeman Victor Willis Sues For 1.5 Million in Royalties – BONUS "Go West" Video!
The original policeman from The Village People, Victor Willis is suing the seminal disco band which still tours American claims for $1.5 million in royalties claiming that he recieved none after he left the band in 1979.
Willis claims in a federal lawsuit filed last week he wrote some of the band’s biggest hits — including “Y.M.C.A.,” “Macho Man,” “In the Navy,” and “Go West” — and in a federal lawsuit filed last week. Willis is suing Can’t Stop Productions, which handles the rights to the band’s songs.
The group was the brainchild of Jacques Morali, a prolific French music producer. Morali picked Willis, a former Broadway star, to shimmy center stage and write the rhythms.
Willis was inspired to write “Y.M.C.A.” after a clueless Morali asked him about why people went to the Y. The lyrical licks described “what it was like going into a new town and not having a lot of money and needing a place to stay,” he said.
Stewart Levy, a lawyer for Can’t Stop Productions, called Willis’ lawsuit “without merit.
