Felipe Rose

Felipe Ortiz Rose
Background information
Birth name	Felipe Ortiz Rose
Born	(1954-01-12) January 12, 1954 (age 63)
Genres	Disco
Occupation(s)	Singer

Felipe Rose (born January 12, 1954) is a founding member of the disco group the Village People, in which he is the Native American. His mother is Puerto Rican and his father is Lakota Sioux.

Rose (birth name: Felipe Ortiz Rose ) was born in New York City and 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. In 1970, when Rose was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to study dance with the Ballet de Puerto Rico under the guidance of Pascual Guzman. He participated in a dance-drama recital of Julia de Burgos at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with the Ballet Company. The New York Post called his performance "poignant and compelling."

Soon, Rose started to venture into the nightclub scene and at the same time his aunt introduced him to other influences in dance and recommended that he honor his father's heritage by dressing in his tribal regalia - this led to the "Red Indian" attire. Rose was working as a dancer and a bartender in a gay New York Go-Go club, dressed as an Indian when he was discovered by French producer Jacques Morali and executive producer Henri Belolo and so became the first recruit for Village People.

Both Jacques and Henri were fascinated by Rose's Red Indian attire and saw the potential in organizing a singing group where each individual would wear a different costume and have a particular identity. While the producers were busy recruiting and preparing the other members of the group, Rose was sent to Paris where he choreographed a native dance number for the Crazy Horse Saloon. When he returned to the United States, he suggested that the other members of the group wear uniforms representing different "manly" occupations in New York's Greenwich Village.

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