Jacques Morali
July 4, 1947 – November 15, 1991
Jacques Morali was a French record producer who achieved fame and fortune by creating, producing, and branding the Village People who were arguably the flash point of disco’s crossover during the mid ’70s. While working in a record store during the early ’70s, he began to hear the early records of dance and what would soon become disco, and immediately fell in love with it. He moved to the United States and found work at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia so he could be near the Philly Sound he had learned about in France. While there, he co-produced or co-wrote songs for several albums by the Ritchie Family. While visiting a gay disco in New York’s Greenwich Village, Morali took note of the various manly male stereotypes, and thus the concept of the Village People was born. He put the group together and landed a deal with Casablanca Records. Between 1977 and 1979, he produced a string of hits with the Village People. That list includes such disco staples as “Macho Man,” “YMCA,” and “In The Navy.” During the late ’70s and early ’80s, he produced nearly 70 disco albums. But soon the disco craze would die as fast and as hard as it had burst on to the scene, and Morali all but disappeared from the music industry. Jacques Morali was 44 when he died of AIDS on November 15, 1991.