.

Village People's Hughes Dead

Leatherman Hughes was fifty

By 
March 13, 2001 12:00 AM ET

Glenn Hughes, a member of Seventies disco band the Village People, died March 4th at the age of fifty. Hughes, a former Brooklyn Battery Tunnel toll collector who assumed the biker persona in the band, had been ill for many years, and requested that he be buried in his trademark "Leatherman" regalia -- complete with hat, chains and leather pants that he wore both on and offstage. Hughes stopped performing with the band in 1995 and was replaced by Eric Anzalone, but he remained active in the band's business affairs, through the band's company Sixuvus Ltd.

Hughes was recruited in 1976 by French composer/producer Jacques Morali, who came to the United States as the winner of a 20th Century Fox slogan contest but stayed after deciding to form the a band based on gay fantasy figures. In addition to Hughes, the band also featured Felipe Rose as an Indian chief, Randy Jones as a cowboy, Alexander Briley as a GI, David Hodo as a construction worker and Victor Willis as a night-stick wielding policeman. Since Morali recruited the members from New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood, he dubbed them "The Village People." The band's first chart success was with 1978's "Macho Man," but made their name with "Y.M.C.A.," which reached No. 2. The band continues to tour.

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Love Sets Bastard Lineup
Music Main Next
Frank Black's Indie Return

Picks From Around the Web


blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Most Popular

Photos & Videos

Go To Content

Random Notes: Hottest Rock Pictures

Go To Content Play Video

Video: Dave Grohl Sits in With the Rolling Stones

Go To Content

Gallery: 'Born Sinner' Series by J. Cole

Best Ever Lists
500 Greatest Songs of All Time

Other Lists

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »