Their cheesy music and camp costumes have made them established purveyors of the ultimate party music for more than 30 years.

Their cheesy music and camp costumes have made them established purveyors of the ultimate party music for more than 30 years.

Disco classics such as YMCA, In the Navy, and Macho Man have helped Village People to sell more than 80 million albums and singles worldwide, and win a host of awards globally.

A revised version of the group is still performing around the world today, 32 years after the band was originally founded.

However, it appears the party is about to be crashed, after Victor Willis, one of the original members and former lead singer who played the police officer, launched a court action to stop his image and voice being used to promote the group's revival.

He has filed a lawsuit in San Diego which claims companies continue to use his voice and picture to promote the new Village People.

Willis, who wrote some of the group's biggest hits, is suing promoter Sixuvus, agent the William Morris Agency and Can't Stop Productions, which owns the trademark to the name.

The singer-songwriter, who left Village People in 1980, is also suing several venues where the new line-up has played.

The companies involved have not yet commented on the action.

Village People were a manufactured outfit formed in 1977 by French producers Henri Belolo and Jacques Morali, who found Willis singing backing vocals in a studio.

It was not until Morali went to a disco in Manhattan that he came up with the idea that a group of macho homosexual stereotypes in fancy dress could take the music industry by storm.

Willis was the only straight member of the original group of six.

They became a worldwide phenomenon and appeared at a host of international venues, including Japan's Budokan and Hollywood's Greek Theatre.

Later this year, the group's achievements are to be recognised when a star is dedicated to them on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.