LOS ANGELES, July 2 -- There is a hand gesture known in virtually every country on the planet, taught by a song that lasted five decades, written by a man most people could not have named. Victor Willis, the co-writer and original lead singer of Village People, who gave the world "Y.M.C.A.," died Tuesday at 74 following what his team described as a short but aggressive illness.

Willis died June 30, 2026, NBC News reported. His wife, Karen Huff Willis, survived him. The cause of death has not been specified.

The song that outlived his solo ambitions arrived in 1978, when Village People were still navigating the tension between novelty act and legitimate commercial force. Willis wrote the lyrics to "Y.M.C.A." drawing on his own observatio...