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Village People music biography continued...

The band's name references New York City's Greenwich Village neighborhood, at the time known for having a substantial gay population. French music composer Jacques Morali and a business partner got the inspiration for creating an assembly of American man archetypes based on the gay men of The Village who frequently dressed in various fantasy attire The original group consisted of: police officer (Victor Willis), American Indian chief (Felipe Rose), cowboy (Randy Jones), construction worker (David Hodo), leatherman (Glenn Hughes) and military man (Alex Briley). For the release of "In the Navy", both Willis and Briley appeared temporarily as sailors. The group scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark Village People songs "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", "In the Navy", "Can't Stop the Music", "Sex Over the Phone" and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.," which is still played at celebratory events to this day.
By 1981, the popularity of disco had begun to wane and some original members of the Village People dropped out. The group retooled and replaced its on-stage costumes with a new look inspired by the New Romantic movement, and released the New Wave album Renaissance; it was a minor success. Although their last album containing new material, the 1985 dance/Hi-NRG release Sex Over The Phone, was not a huge commercial success, it fared better in sales and club play than their "Renaissance" album. The "Sex Over The Phone" music video, due to the rise of video on the Internet, has become a viral video phenomenon. A totally reconstituted group still plays from time to time—for example in 2003 they were brought in to play for a New Year's Eve party hosted by Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and were the opening act in Cher's 2004 Farewell Tour. They also continue to play as a nostalgia band at venues around the world.