Adore Delano | |||||||
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Born | Glendora, California, U.S. | September 29, 1989||||||
Other names | Dani Noriega | ||||||
Occupations |
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Years active | 2008–present | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
Personal information | |||||||
Occupation(s) | Drag queen, singer-songwriter, television personality | ||||||
Years active | 2007–present | ||||||
Subscribers | 527 thousand | ||||||
Total views | 83.37 million | ||||||
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Last updated: 27 July 2023 | |||||||
Website | adoredelano |
Dani Noriega [1] (born September 29, 1989), [2] better known under the stage name Adore Delano, [3] is an American drag queen, singer-songwriter, and television personality. She appeared as a contestant on the sixth and seventh season of American Idol in 2008 and later competed as Adore Delano on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race , placing in the final three. She then went on to compete on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars , placing ninth after voluntarily leaving the competition. She has recorded and released three studio albums: Till Death Do Us Party (2014), After Party (2016), Whatever (2017), and one EP Dirty Laundry (2021).
Noriega was born to Bonnie Pimentel Noriega [4] [5] in Glendora, California, raised in Azusa, California, and attended Sierra High School, a continuation school for at-risk teenagers. [6]
In 2008, Noriega appeared on the seventh season of American Idol , making it to the semi-finals. She became known for her flamboyant personality and sassy rapport with the judges, notably a comment toward judge Simon Cowell, which later went viral. After watching Noriega on Idol, Rosie O'Donnell invited her to perform on her R Family Vacations cruise. [7] Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres also invited Noriega to be a guest on her show. [8] Before her appearance on American Idol and through high school, she lived as a transgender woman, but suppressed her gender identity in order to appear on the show. [9]
Stage | Theme | Song choice | Original artist | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
Audition | Singer's Choice | "Proud Mary" | Creedence Clearwater Revival | Advanced |
Hollywood | Singer's Choice | "When I Need You" | Albert Hammond | Advanced |
Top 24 | The 1960s | "Jailhouse Rock" | Elvis Presley | Safe |
Top 20 | The 1970s | "Superstar" | Delaney & Bonnie | Safe |
Top 16 | The 1980s | "Tainted Love" | Gloria Jones | Eliminated |
Following American Idol, Noriega became a YouTube personality, performing skits in drag as Adore Delano, or Angel Baby, another drag character. In June 2009, she released the music video for the song "24/7," featuring sister Diamonique. [10]
After seeing RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Raven perform at the nightclub Micky's in West Hollywood, Noriega was inspired to enter a drag competition at the club, which she won. [11] Noriega began performing as Adore Delano in Southern California. [12] Along with other RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, she walked the Marco Marco runway for Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2013. [13] In December 2013, Logo TV announced her as one of 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race . [14] She had previously competed for the season 5 fan-vote, ultimately losing to Penny Tration. Adore Delano eventually went on to win three challenges and made it to the final three. With Courtney Act, she finished as runner-up to season winner Bianca Del Rio.
Following the finale of Drag Race, Adore Delano released the single "DTF" on May 20, 2014, as the lead single from her debut album Till Death Do Us Party . The album was released on June 3, 2014, charting at number three on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart, [15] 11 on the US Independent Albums chart, [16] and number fifty-nine on the Billboard 200. [17] She released music videos for the majority of its tracks, including "I Adore U", which peaked at 49 on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs. [18] In November 2014, Adore Delano announced that a second album was in the works with an anticipated 2015 release date. [19]
Adore Delano's album After Party was set for release March 11, 2016. [20] "Dynamite", the first single, was released on February 26, 2016; "Take Me There", the second single, was released on March 10, 2016; and the "I.C.U.", was released on September 1, 2016. [21] Adore was one of 10 contestants on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. [22] She chose to leave the show in the second episode for personal reasons. Whatever, her third studio album, was released on August 18, 2017. [23]
On April 4, 2017, Noriega filed a lawsuit against Producer Entertainment Group, her former management company, alleging that Noriega had earned $2.5 million over the past three years, but only about $300,000 was actually paid. [24] P.E.G. counter-sued in January 2018, alleging Noriega owed the company $180,000 in management fees. The suit was dismissed by a judge who awarded no money to either party. [25] [26]
In 2019, Adore Delano appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season 11 of Drag Race. [27] In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her sixth on its list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants. [28] In August, she was featured on the cover of Gay Times. [29] In December 2019, she joined the cast of the fourth season of Ex on the Beach . [30]
After her de-transition in order to appear on American Idol, she has said that she attempted to appease her feelings about her gender identity by living as a woman through Adore, but in her transgender "coming out" video, she stated that she "could not do it anymore." [9]
Noriega came out as bisexual at age 12, then gay. [9] In a 2012 interview, she said she is not opposed to dating women. [31] From 2017 to 2023, Noriega identified as non-binary and used any pronouns. [32] Noriega said that "gender isn't a real thing... it's just something they came up with to categorize and control people". [33]
She has been sober since 2021. In a video posted to Instagram on July 26, 2023, Noriega revealed that she had been taking estrogen for about three months and identified as transgender, using the pronouns she/her. She additionally announced that she has a gender-affirming surgical operation scheduled for November of the same year. [9]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(January 2020) |
Headlining
Co-headlining act
Promotional
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
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2014 | Adore Delano | Drag Queen of the Year | Won | [34] |
Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes | Ref. |
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2015 | Dragged | Christopher Birk | Self | [35] [ non-primary source needed ] | |
2015 | TupiniQueens | João Monteiro | Documentary about the drag queen scene in Brazil | [36] |
Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2008 | American Idol | [37] | |
The Ellen DeGeneres Show | [8] | ||
2014 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 6 – finalist | [37] |
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked | companion show to RuPaul's Drag Race | [37] | |
2015 | Chasing Life | ||
2016 | RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars | Season 2 – 9th place | |
2018 | Courtney Act's Christmas Extravaganza | Channel 4 Christmas Special | |
2019 | The View | Interviewed with Nina West and Monét X Change | [38] |
Ex on the Beach | Season 4: Peak of Love – contestant | ||
2020 | KTLA 5 News | Interviewed with LaDemi |
Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Let the Music Play | [39] | |
2015 | Hey Qween! | Episode: "Adore Delano" | [40] |
2018 | Portrait of a Queen | Episode: "Love & Adore" | [41] |
Bestie$ for Ca$h | Episode: "Adore Delano and Chris Crocker" | [42] | |
2018–23 | The Pit Stop | Guest; 4 episodes | [43] [44] [45] [46] |
2019 | The View: Facebook Live | Episode: "Pride Month 2019" | |
2020 | Love for the Arts | Guest judge | [47] |
2023 | Sissy That Talk Show with Joseph Shepherd | Podcast; Guest | [48] |
Title | Year | Artist | Director | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Oh No She Better Don't" | 2014 | RuPaul | Steven Corfe | [49] |
"Sissy That Walk" | Steven Corfe | [50] | ||
"Mean Gays" | Courtney Act | Kain O'Keeffe | [51] | |
"Hieeee" | 2015 | Alaska | Ben Simkins | [52] |
"The T" | 2016 | [53] | ||
"You Need to Calm Down" | 2019 | Taylor Swift | Drew Kirsch | [54] |
Shane Gilberto Jenek, better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of Australian Idol in 2003. After the show, she signed to BMG Australia, and she released her debut single, "Rub Me Wrong", which peaked at No. 29 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified Gold. While auditioning for Australian Idol, she became the first LGBTQ contestant to openly appear on a reality TV talent show. In 2014, Courtney was one of the runners-up in season six of RuPaul's Drag Race. Courtney is a member of the drag girl-group, The AAA Girls.
Sharon Needles is the stage name of Aaron Robert Coady, an American drag performer and recording artist. A self-described "stupid genius, reviled sweetheart, and PBR princess", Needles rose to international attention on the fourth season of the Logo reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, where she quickly became a fan favorite and was subsequently crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar" in April 2012.
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Roy R. Haylock, better known by the stage name Bianca Del Rio, is an American drag queen, comedian, actor, and costume designer. She is known for winning the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Since her time on Drag Race, Del Rio has written and toured several stand-up shows, including It's Jester Joke (2019), which also made her the first drag queen to headline at Wembley Arena. She has also performed as a host for various international tours, most notably Werq the World. In 2018, she published her first book, Blame It On Bianca Del Rio: The Expert On Nothing With An Opinion On Everything.
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Till Death Do Us Party is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter and drag queen, Adore Delano. The album was released through Sidecar Records in association with Producer Entertainment Group on June 3, 2014. The album was available to pre-order on May 29, 2014, and was officially released on June 3, 2014. In November 2014, Delano announced that she was working on a follow-up to Till Death Do Us Party.
Brian Michael Firkus, better known by the stage name Trixie Mattel, is an American drag queen, television personality, and singer-songwriter originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is known for her exaggerated, high-camp, 1960s-influenced style, distinctive eye makeup, and her blend of comedy, acoustic pop, and folk-country music; Mattel sings and plays guitar and the autoharp. In 2015, she competed in the seventh season of the drag reality television competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, placing sixth. In 2018, she went on to win the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. She also made guest appearances in various iterations of the Drag Race franchise.
Violet Chachki is the stage name of Paul Jason Dardo, an American drag queen, burlesque/aerial performer, content creator, model, and recording artist best known for winning the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Violet Chachki is genderfluid and uses she/her and they/them pronouns.
The discography of American drag performer and singer Adore Delano consists of three studio albums, one extended play, thirteen singles, one promotional single, and eleven music videos.
Sang-Young Shin, known professionally as Kim Chi, is a Korean-American drag queen, artist, entrepreneur, and television personality best known for competing on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Kim Chi was the first Korean-American contestant on the show as well as the first Korean-American drag queen on American national television. She owns the beauty brand Kim Chi Chic Cosmetics.
After Party is the second studio album from American singer-songwriter and drag queen, Adore Delano. The album was released through Sidecar Records and Producer Entertainment Group on March 11, 2016. It was made available to pre-order on February 18, 2016. The album's lead single, "Dynamite" was released on February 26, 2016 with the song's music video premiering the same day.
Ryan A. Taylor, known professionally as Trinity "The Tuck" Taylor or just Trinity the Tuck, is an American drag queen, television personality, and recording artist best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and for winning the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, shared with Monét X Change. She went by Trinity "the Tuck" Taylor on her original season, but on the first episode of All Stars, she indicated that she would henceforth go simply by Trinity the Tuck.
Poundcake is the second studio album by American drag performer and recording artist Alaska Thunderfuck, released by Producer Entertainment Group on October 14, 2016. The album features RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Adore Delano, Gia Gunn, and Miss Fame, and drag performer Jackie Beat.
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Producer Entertainment Group (PEG), also affiliated with Producer Entertainment Group Records (PEGR), is an American talent management firm and production company based in Burbank, California. The group manages LGBTQ+ talent across the globe, including past competitors from the Drag Race franchise.
For 18-year-old Noriega...