end of Victor Willis in VP

[usagi-san]

Hi, I just read in the newspaper Victor Willis left the Village People in the late 1970s. I thought he was fired in early 1980. I checked search engine results but got conflicting information. Does anyone know for sure when he left and if it was voluntary or was he fired? Thank you.

[SandraDee]

I'm sure he left in late 1979/early 1980 because it was Ray Simpson singing on 'Ready For The 80s' & 'Cant Stop The Music'. I'm sure I heard that he was fired as you say but I'm not totally certain of that.

[BrunoRepublic]

According to the official VP site, Victor left rather than star in CSTM.
According to an interview with Randy Jones, Victor was fired for heavy drug use.
According to an interview with Victor himself, he was fired for demanding too much money.

Regardless, he was back for a bit a couple of years later, and then was gone again, never to return.

[olskinflint]

his arrests sure indicate a pretty bad drug problem (I heard him mention it in an interview a couple years ago). What always puzzled me about him is how a man who claims he was the only "breeder" in the original lineup of the VP wrote lyrics that so reflected a gay sensibility. Wonder what he did with all the songwriting money he made?

[Discovery]

According to an in-depth television documentary on the Village People and Jacques Morali, Victor Willis left the group in 1979 to pursue a solo career and recorded a full-length solo album with Jacques Morali, which Casablanca subsequently decided not to release.

Why didn’t Casablanca release this album?

Where can we hear tracks from this unreleased album?

[remicks]

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Hmmm ... Casablanca not releasing something ..that is odd from the label that readily simulataniously released four individual albums from each member of the group Kiss ....

..If there was such an individual project completed ( and maybe "if" is the key word here) I doubt it was rejected because of quality control. I don't think Casablanca operated with concerns like that. Maybe they decided the Village People were such a cash cow , they didn't want to call attention to such a significant member realignment for fear of losing some of the record buying fan base. ...?......

It baffles me that there can be any music just being allowed to waste away in storage by any artist on any label.... no matter the quality .... this is finished work ... ready to go .... from a business angle seems like easy money to me ..... and from a historical angle, surely there is some fringe element of people still in the music business that are involved because they actually care about the music ... ? ......

Were I involved with any label with a catalogue , I'd be paying a staff to sort through it and I'd be pumpig the newly discovered stuff out right and left . 8) :D


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[BrunoRepublic]

There are many, many unreleased disco albums from 1979/80. In North America, disco went from being hip to utterly reviled in a matter of months. The sudden massive public rejection of the music quickly stopped all major label efforts. By the end of 1980, you couldn't give away a disco record. Case in point, "Can't Stop The Music" was originally to be titled "Adventures in Discoland" but the title had to be changed due to disco's newly-found unpopularity.

[BrunoRepublic]

By 1980, Casablanca was in serious trouble. Disco records weren't selling at all anymore, and aside from KISS, Casablanca had few profitable acts left. Donna Summer had turned against them, and tried to sue. Neil Bogart was forced out, and the label became an imprint on PolyGram.

And although the KISS solo albums were widely regarded as a dreadful vanity project, KISS has maintained such a loyal and fanatical fanbase over the years that they still sell in sufficient quantities to warrant keeping them in print.

[Editmaster JT]

Just to add one little bit here... "Y.M.C.A." was re-recorded for 'Can't Stop The Music' with Ray Simpson doing the lead. I believe 'Liberation' is the original with Victor though.

[QUINNY]

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It baffles me that there can be any music just being allowed to waste away in storage by any artist on any label.... no matter the quality .... this is finished work.


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remicks: Please think about what you've written here for just a few moments. It's poor quality control and unrestrained expansion of 'Disco' that did for it in late '79. Had more producers and label supremos exercised a little more self control and not jumped onto the Disco bandwagon with inferior product, Disco might have had a slightly longer heyday and have been less reviled.

[RetroRuss]

Quinny is absolutely right on this one. I have hundreds of records in my collection that gave Disco a bad name. Recorded on a plethora of labels and artistes one has never heard of or appear in any Hall of Fame (more likely to appear in a Hall of Shame). Maybe one day I will play an hour of this stuff on my radio show - if anyone's interested.

[BrunoRepublic]

It's poor quality control and unrestrained expansion of 'Disco' that did for it in late '79. Had more producers and label supremos exercised a little more self control and not jumped onto the Disco bandwagon with inferior product, Disco might have had a slightly longer heyday and have been less reviled.

Poor quality control and unrestrained expansion never hurt rap, grunge, or handbag. :/

[K-Bee]

A bit related to this topic I guess...
When exactly was Miles Jaye (who was later to release soul albums in the 80s/early 90s) a member of VP? Many sources say he was in the group but I've never seen him on any covers.

[remicks]

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Headlamp ...you'll find hundreds of examples of crap in any genre of music . I don't think anyone intentionally goes out to make the crapppiest type of any given music.... I'm sure they all thought they were providing the best heard yet . Yes , there is a formula to disco that some tried to produce at a rotary level ..but even they believed that they correctly understood the formula so that the results of what they produced would be welcomed within the disco industry ( Sometimes they did succeed at this .... more often ... crap ) . Luckily , the counter to this were the creative inventive forces on the scene , those who truly strived to create excellence ..we all know which classics those compositions have now become ...




Quinny , I doubt very seriously that the (supposed) revolt against disco by the common masses was because they were dissatisfied with the poor quality of their disco . (“Give us great disco , or we won’t have it !” ) And during the glut …. then , more than ever , it was the challenge for the DJs to sort through it all and filter it out for their crowds. This made it more exciting during that time didn't it ?... ("No crappy disco in this club ... not on my watch!") . It was up to the DJs to provide the quality control …. the labels couldn’t force their crappier stuff onto the turntables . ( Discos had so much more power over the labels than did radio ..... another angle to the story worth exploring .)
As was mentioned , quality hasn’t prevented rap from its now way tooo long prominence . Or country . The (supposed ) disco revolt had more to do with social bigotries than concerns about the music. That .... and the requirements necessary to appreciate disco were a little beyond what the common average Joe was capable of investing . ( huh? Wha? Me ? ….. dance? ). The common Joe likes his music …simple …very simple … and intricate music involving layers of orchestration and complex arrangements were a bit of a strain on the common brain. Combine that with the fact that it was a participatory music … a person had to get out of his chair , get cleaned up, go to a club , a roller rink , ( whatever) and physically move his ass ….well that was simply asking too much of ol’ Joe Schmoe. . A lot more folks preferred the kind of music you just laid around and smoked a doobie to. But what are ya gonna do ..the hippie dippie days had faded out and hanging out in the Chevy van was passe'. Hence along comes the answer ..... --- a bare-bones stripped-down music called RAP ..a much less complicated music .. ah yes , simple .. Another genre of music requiring no investment of thought nor of body ... beyond buying nice low end speakers and listening to endless references about having sex at the most primal level. Yep..this was the perfect replacement music for your basic Average Joe…. the last thing he wants in his life is music of such design that it demands any degree of exercise ( mental or physical) from him in any manner .

Back to the original point .... I don't think too many, if any disco recordings were withheld in the interest of quality control nor should they have been .... release the artist's work and let the public decide if they like it .
.... I do think that things got shelved for a host of reasons ... probably most of them legal ..such as not securing rights to perform/release certain product ..... but one could name all kinds of scenarois that might stop the releasing of material ....maybe the project wasn't completed , and was set aside.... maybe the timing wasn't right within the label for a release .... maybe a label got eaten up by another and product got lost in the shuffle ... one recorded version chosen over another .... on & on ....

ANYWAYS ... there has to be stuff wasting away on the shelves .... some perhaps brilliant ....but, NO MATTER HOW CRAPPY ...I'd be thrilled to have the opportunity to hear it !! :D :P :D.

Even if a lot of it is deemed garbage ....they could take a cue from MAD Magazine and release these little unknown ditties in a collector's series called "MORE TRASH from SALSOUL " or "THE WORST from RCA" .... our price: 12.99 CHEAP !

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