Felipe Rose

Felipe Rose born 12 January 1954 is an American musician who was an original member of the disco group the Village People While in the group he performed as a Native American character usually wearing a costume consisting of an imitation war bonnet loincloth and theatrical face paint Rose was a member of the group from 1977 until 2017 when the name of the group was turned over to original lead singer Victor Willis Rose subsequently launched a solo career and released the single Going Back to My Roots in 2018 Felipe Ortiz Rose was born in Manhattan to a Puerto Rican mother He currently claims LakotaTaino descent but at other times has said he is Apache He was raised in Brooklyn where he displayed an interest in the arts during his childhood His mother was his main inspiration as she herself had been a dancer for the Copacabana during the 1940s and 1950s Rose began as a nightclub dancer He describes being encouraged by an aunt to begin dancing in his fathers tribal regalia which he says led to his costume in the Village People Rose was working as a dancer and a bartender in the gay New York discotheque The Anvil dressed as an American Indian when he was discovered by French producer Jacques Morali and executive producer Henri Belolo and so became the first recruit for Village People In 1977 Village People had their first hit with San Francisco although this song became a hit only in the United Kingdom Then in 1978 they had their first hits in the US with Macho Man followed by YMCA He is a member of the bands board of directors called Sixuvus Ltd six of us named for the six members of the Village People In 2000 Rose began to work on his solo career His single Trails of Tears won a NAMMY Native American Music Awards for Best Historical Recording In 2002 Rose was the opening act of the fifth Annual Native American Music Awards celebrated at the Marcus Amphitheatre in Milwaukee Wisconsin His media company is the Tomahawk Group Rose has appeared in the movies Cant Stop the Music 1980 The Best of Village People 1993 and Feathers and Leathers The Story of the Village People 1999 He also participated in the 2000 documentary Village People The E True Hollywood Story For a time Rose lived in Richmond Virginia and briefly in Jersey City New Jersey though he found it to be too crowded In a 2008 interview he stated that approximately four or five years prior he moved to Asbury Park New Jersey on the advice of several friends who lived there saying So I came down and I just fell in love with the shore I love the diversity of Asbury because it brings everyone together There is a very large gay and lesbian community here but the diversity of artists is amazing its become very bohemian Source Article Felipe Rose from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30