Village People is an American disco group, best known for their on-stage costumes & suggestive lyrics in their music. The band was formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the issue of their eponymous debut L.P. Village People, aimed at disco's large gay audience. They were named after Manhattan's Greenwich Village, a gay neighbourhood of New York. The characters were a symbolic group of American masculinity & macho gay-fantasy personas, Victor Willis being the only original member by 2020.

The band soon grew in popularity as they moved into the mainstream, having several disco and dance hits internationally, including the singles Macho Man, In the Navy, Go West & their biggest, Y.M.C.A., which the US Library of Congress described as 'an American phenomenon' in March 2020, adding the song to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings regarded as 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant'.