Honey Davenport | |
---|---|
Born | James Clark August 13, 1985 |
Other names | Sir Honey Davenport |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2008–present |
Known for | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 11) |
Spouse | John Heath-Clark (m. 2012) |
Relatives | Lee Daniels (cousin) |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument | Vocals |
Labels | Chew Fu |
Website | officialhoneyd |
James Heath-Clark [3] [4] (born August 13, 1985), [5] [6] known professionally as Honey Davenport, is an American drag performer, singer, songwriter, actor and activist. Davenport was a longtime fixture of the New York City nightlife scene and came to international attention as a contestant on season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race . Born in West Philadelphia, Heath-Clark attended college for musical theatre in New York, where he began his career as a backup dancer for Peppermint. He later established his own dance group, The Hunties. After taking up drag, Davenport became active in the pageant circuit of that community, winning 18 titles between 2013 and 2018. In 2013, she and her band, Electrohoney, released an eponymous album and starred in a live rock opera called The Electric Highway. She also performed in two off-Broadway shows, The Orion Experience (2013) and Trinkets (2017–2018). In the latter, she played the leading role.
While her season of Drag Race aired in 2019, Davenport released singles and music videos off of her debut EP, Raw and Unfiltered. Since then, she has launched a solo musical career; embarked on domestic and international tours; and appeared as both a host and a guest on web series about drag, culture and current events. In the second half of 2019, she starred in two off-off-Broadway shows: Raw and Unfiltered, a live adaptation of her EP, and Stocking Stuffer: A Christmas Show with Balls, a holiday-themed performance. In early 2020, she and Aja released "Draw the Blood", a song whose accompanying music video marked her first directorial credit. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Davenport has produced more songs, music videos and web content, sometimes in collaboration with other artists. Her second EP, Love Is God, was released in January 2022, and she followed this with a single and music video titled "Mighty Legendary" in 2023. In film, she co-starred in God Save the Queens, a feature-length picture that debuted at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2023.
Davenport centers most of her art on social justice themes. She was motivated to take up political activism for a number of reasons: losing family and friends to gun violence as a child, being the victim of police brutality as a young adult, and experiencing incidents of racism throughout life. She has also been vocal about transgender rights, especially within the drag community. In October 2018, Davenport attracted national media attention for quitting her longtime job as a show host at The Monster, a Manhattan gay bar, in protest of racism she encountered there.
Philly is such a musical place. I remember growing there. I went to the schools where I took classes from people like Floetry. When I first started writing, I used to go to First Fridays in Old City and do spoken word at the Painted Bride when I was in high school. That helped me develop as a songwriter, too, because poetry transfers into my songwriting. Philly, I was made there, so it has a lot to do with everything that is great about me.
–Heath-Clark, in an interview with Philadelphia Gay News [7]
Heath-Clark was born James Clark [8] on August 13, 1985, [5] [6] in West Philadelphia. [9] He was raised primarily by his mother, who taught him to express his feelings by rapping. [10] [11] Of his early years, he said, "I grew up ... in the projects, and I lost countless family members and friends to gun violence. I have been held at gunpoint more than once. It's the world I grew up in, [guns] were so easily accessible to my friends and to my enemies." [12]
Affected by those experiences and by racism he encountered, Heath-Clark began writing poetry about social justice when he was 10 years old. [13] [14] Also interested in music, he was a member of his church choir and started writing songs at 13. [15] [16] [17] He practiced boxing as a childhood hobby and took up spoken word poetry as a teenager. [7] [18] [19] In high school, he was in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), where he achieved the rank of squadron commander and served as captain of his rifle team. [20] [21] While attending the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts when he was 15, Heath-Clark and a female friend went to a "come as you are not" party costumed as one another; he cites this as his first time dressing in drag. [22] [23] At 17, he moved to New York City to study musical theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. [24] [25] [26] For a time, he lived in Harlem, on the same block as Drag Race season 6 contestant Vivacious, season 2 contestant Sahara Davenport and season 9 runner-up Peppermint. [27]
After college, Heath-Clark was in the cast of the Broadway national tour of Hairspray . [28] [29] [30] It was there that he had his first experience with drag as a performance art, and this motivated him to subsequently take up work as a backup dancer for Peppermint for four years. [31] [32] [33] He also danced in music videos for Sherry Vine. [34] [35] In anticipation of a month-long tour of Europe with Peppermint in 2008, Heath-Clark decided to earn spending money for his travels by putting on dance shows with a friend; the two called their act The Hunties. [35] [36] To encourage people from the drag community to attend their shows, they incorporated elements of drag into their routines. [36] After his friend left to pursue other endeavors, Heath-Clark decided to continue performing alone as a drag queen. [36] Shortly before the group disbanded, he met RuPaul at a book signing, where the latter misheard the name of The Hunties and made out an autograph to "Honey". [32] [35] [36] From this, Heath-Clark took Honey as his drag name, adopting the Davenport surname from his drag mother, Lady Deja Davenport, who had recently begun mentoring him. [31] [36] His neighbor Sahara Davenport, who had the same drag mother as Deja [37] and was therefore his drag aunt, [9] also taught him tricks of the trade. [34] He credits both Sahara and her partner, Manila Luzon, as teachers who influenced his style. [9] [38] He cites Kevin Aviance, Phylicia Rashad and Beyoncé as artistic inspirations. [22] Heath-Clark's first performance in drag was on April 20, 2008, and his first paid appearance as Honey Davenport was at a show with Bob the Drag Queen. [39] [40] Early in his career, when his aesthetic was more androgynous, Heath-Clark went by the name Sir Honey Davenport. He dropped the "Sir" as his look became more feminine. [41]
Davenport has hosted regular drag shows in New York City, in New Jersey, on Fire Island and in Key West. [42] [43] She also works as a DJ. [35] [44] For her contributions to queer New York City nightlife, she has received six Glam Awards—prizes à la the Oscars issued to members of that community in an annual ceremony. [29] [45] The categories she has won include Club Party of the Year (2017), [45] Door Goddess (2017 and 2018), [45] [46] Best Hostess (2019) [47] and Best Video (2020). [46] [48] She was also named Music Artist of the Year at the 2020 edition of GIANT Fest, a queer music festival in Brooklyn. [49] [50]
Prior to appearing on Drag Race, Davenport was a frequent competitor in drag pageants, where she amassed a total of 18 titles by 2018. [51] [52] The first pageant she ever competed in was Miss Stonewall, which she attempted four times before winning in 2015. [53] [54] Fourteen of her victories fell in the three-year period between 2013 and 2016. [34] Notable among these was the national crown of Miss'd America 2015. [3] [35] [55] Concurrent with that reign, she held seven other titles. [54] [56] In February 2018, Davenport won the Miss Paradise pageant in Asbury Park, New Jersey. [57] She had been performing at Paradise, the nightclub that hosts that pageant, since Sahara Davenport first brought her there years earlier. [9]
In the early 2010s, Davenport fronted Electrohoney, a synth-pop band that released an eponymous album in 2013. [2] [35] [58] [59] Shortly after the album's completion, the band created and starred in The Electric Highway, a live, interactive rock opera featuring a soundtrack of their songs. Set in 2092 New York, The Electric Highway's narrative focuses on Davenport (playing herself) as she embarks on a quest to become a legend. The production explores themes related to gender and sexuality in a dystopian future. All three members of Electrohoney—Davenport, SteveX and Jesse Gray—as well as Deja Davenport, Sherry Vine and Jeremy Xtravaganza, played major roles. [2] J. C. Alvarez of EDGE Media Network reviewed the show favorably, also noting that its opening night suffered from technical problems. Of the musical as a whole, he said, "What Electrohoney and company deliver with their musical rock-opera is a joyful reminder of the creativity that once thrived on the Lower East Side's underground club scene of the 80's, which disappeared into the mass consumer-driven 90's, and totally vanished during the height of the AIDS epidemic." [2]
In summer 2013, Davenport acted in the off-Broadway show The Orion Experience, a sci-fi musical directed by Travis Greisler and set to a glam rock soundtrack by The Orion Experience. [34] [60] [61] In its plot, that band's lead singer, Orion Simprini, goes on an intergalactic journey wherein he encounters various fantastical characters, including Davenport in her role of The Queen of White Lies. [60] [62] The play was well received both by critics and by the audience. [62] A Theater Mania review summarized the show as being "like Here Lies Love or Fuerza Bruta , but with robots and space aliens instead of Filipina dictators or sexually ambiguous Argentineans." [60] Greg Solomon of Theasy.com wrote, "The Orion Experience would appeal to anyone who is out to have a good time, regardless of their walk of life. The age range [of the audience] was from early 20s to late 70s and no one seemed out of place. The only complaint I can muster is that it could have lasted longer." [62] Both The Electric Highway and The Orion Experience ran at the XL Nightclub in New York City. [2] [60]
In 2015, Davenport and Orion collaborated again, this time producing a single called "T.R.O.U.B.L.E". [63] [64] [65] The same year, she appeared on an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen as a Whitney Houston impersonator. [66] [67] From 2017 to 2018, Davenport had the leading role in Trinkets, an off-Broadway play about the lives of transsexual sex workers in Manhattan's Meatpacking District in the 1990s. [68] [69] She portrayed Diva, a veteran prostitute who takes another character under her wing. [70] The show was directed by Paul E. Alexander of The Ones, also starred Kevin Aviance, and ran at the Gene Frankel Theatre. [30] [68] [70] Reviews were mixed: Adrienne Sowers of The Reviews Hub criticized Trinkets as lacking energy and plot cohesion, but she said the script had promise. [71] Gay City News called the play "an ultimately euphoric but often sobering musical that shines a well-lit, long-overdue spotlight on drag and transsexual prostitutes during an era of uneasy cultural visibility". [70]
After auditioning for RuPaul's Drag Race eight times, Davenport was selected as one of 15 contestants for the show's 11th season, which premiered on February 28, 2019. [72] The invitation to compete came at a difficult time for her: she was homeless and having troubles in her marriage, and one of her mentors was in a coma. [51] [73] [74] She borrowed about $20,000 from friends in order to commission the runway outfits she brought to the competition. [12] [75] For the season's first main challenge, a photo shoot, she was paired with her mentor Manila Luzon, who placed as runner-up on the third season of Drag Race and competed on the first and fourth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars . [76] Davenport was eliminated in the series' first-ever six-way Lip Sync for Your Life, exiting in season 11's third episode as the 13th-place finisher. [31] [74] [77]
One of Davenport's drag daughters, Monét X Change, competed on the 10th season of RuPaul's Drag Race and won the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. [9] Two of Davenport's drag aunts have also appeared on the show: Sahara Davenport, who competed on season 2 of the regular series, and Kennedy Davenport, who competed on season 7 of the regular series and placed as runner-up on season 3 of All Stars. [9] [78] [79] Fellow season 11 contestants Ra'Jah O'Hara and A'keria C. Davenport are also members of the Davenport drag family. [80]
Davenport's 2019 visual EP, Raw and Unfiltered, treats the subject of being a queer person of color in America. [51] It was produced by Chew Fu. [12] [81] Davenport released each of the songs from Raw and Unfiltered during the airing of Drag Race season 11; the corresponding music videos showcase the looks she would have worn in the episodes following her elimination from the show. [12] [72] [73] The first single and video combination off the EP, titled "The Hive", came out during the second week of the season. [25] Davenport co-wrote "The Hive" with Jayse Vegas, a frequent collaborator who has featured her in his own songs and music videos. [1] [82] The fifth track on Raw and Unfiltered, "Cocoa Butter", was co-produced by Davenport; Vegas; Will Sheridan; Nedra Belle (of The Voice season 13); and Kareem McJagger, another longtime collaborator who is also Davenport's drag daughter. [25] [63] [83] [84] The video for "Cocoa Butter" won a Glam Award. [48] The final track on Raw and Unfiltered, "Worship Me", was written by Orion Simprini. [85] In July 2019, Davenport performed a theatrical concert adaptation of Raw and Unfiltered at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, an off-off-Broadway venue in Manhattan. [86] [87] The show had a three-date run. [86]
In spring 2019, Davenport released the first season of her weekly YouTube series and podcast, Da Fuq. [25] [51] [88] That May, she released "Stan for You", a Pride-themed single and music video featuring Drag Race season 11 winner Yvie Oddly. [89] [90] Over the summer, she participated in the RuPaul's Drag Race Season 11 Tour, performing around the U.S. with other competitors from her season. [91] She had an out-of-drag cameo role in Eureka O'Hara's August 2019 music video "Pretty Hot and Tasty". [92] The first week in September, Davenport was featured on the cover of Get Out! Magazine. [93] The issue included a piece she wrote about the life changes she underwent after Drag Race. [94] Around the same time, she appeared in the music video for Lovari and Adam Barta's song "No Day Like Today". [95] [96]
Davenport traveled to Australia in October 2019 to partake in Pride events and raise awareness for queer people of color on that continent. In an interview with DNA magazine, she said, "It is really important to me that my people are represented all over the world. People of colour are a part of every community not just in America and the people here are just as important to me as the ones back home." [97] During the visit, she appeared at the first-ever Black Pride Awards in Cairns, becoming the first RuPaul's Drag Race alumna to perform in that city. [98] [99] After the activism leg of her trip, she joined six other Drag Race season 11 contestants and season 2 runner-up Raven for The Sickening Ball tour, a Halloween-themed drag production with stops in Australia and New Zealand. [100]
In November 2019, Trustpilot, a consumer review website, unveiled an ad campaign featuring Davenport on billboards and in a commercial. [101] [102] In the campaign, a female monarch resembling Queen Elizabeth II purchases jewelry online, guided by Davenport's product review. [102] Later that month, Davenport and Peppermint served as guest panelists on the VH1 online miniseries Black Girl Beauty. [103] [104] The series takes the form of a round-table discussion that "gives celebrities, influencers and VH1 stars an opportunity to have their say on issues that define [b]lack women's beauty". [103] During the 2019 holiday season, Davenport starred in Stocking Stuffer: A Christmas Show with Balls, her second one-woman show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. [105] [106] Its closing night was held at Club Cumming. [107] On Christmas Eve 2019, she released a single called "Present (Tie You Down)". [106] [108]
"Draw the Blood" music video |
In February 2020, Davenport and Aja released "Draw the Blood", a collaborative single whose music video marked Davenport's first directorial credit. [29] [30] [48] The song, which debuted at number 26 on iTunes, [49] [50] focuses on the danger of bystander inaction in the face of racism, and its video features the personal experiences of Davenport and those close to her. [30] [48] The title references a metaphor indicating that those who do not intervene when they witness injustice have blood on their hands. [109] Aja and Davenport each penned portions of the track, and Kareem McJagger wrote the hook. [84] The video was included in Entertainment Weekly 's "fabulous collection of the RuPaul's Drag Race queens' best music videos". [110]
The second season of Da Fuq premiered in April 2020. [30] [88] The same month, Jayse Vegas featured Davenport in a remix of his song "Energy", and Mo Heart featured her in the music video "Hot Sauce and High Heels (Kinky Boots Remix)". [111] [112] In May 2020, Billboard called Davenport's performance at RuPaul's Digital DragCon one of the seven best moments of the event. [113] In June, she was featured in Socia(Lites)'s music video "Bitch Got Hips". [114] Later that month, she debuted "Digital Rainbow", a single about celebrating Pride in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. [115] [116] The track features Oddly, Vegas, Widow Von'Du and Cazwell. [115] [117] Both the song and its accompanying music video were produced while Davenport and the featured artists were in quarantine; each person recorded their portion of the sound and video at home, and the clips were stitched together in post-production. [114] [117]
In August 2020, Davenport appeared in "Nerves of Steel", a music video by the English synth-pop duo Erasure. The video is a mashup of clips of prominent drag queens and other queer performers lip-syncing the song's lyrics. [118] Later in the summer, she served as assistant director for Shuga Cain's September 2020 music video "Sweet Love". Because filming was completed in person during the pandemic, the video's cast is mostly masked. [119] Shortly thereafter, Davenport re-released "Warrior", the second single off of Raw and Unfiltered, together with a full-length music video filmed in front of a green screen during quarantine. [81] [120] The video accompanying the song's initial release had been shorter due to budgetary restrictions. [81]
In October, the cast of Shooting Star – A Revealing New Musical featured Davenport, Alaska Thunderfuck and Miss Coco Peru in a music video medley "to raise COVID-19 relief aid for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Pineapple Support". [121] The same month, Davenport appeared in Divas for Democracy: United We Slay, a digital variety show featuring Broadway names like Chita Rivera and Harvey Fierstein as well as Drag Race stars including Bianca Del Rio, Jinkx Monsoon and Jujubee. The show encouraged Americans to vote in the 2020 United States presidential election. [122] Shortly before Halloween, Davenport and Loris (of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula ) released a collaborative single and music video called "Freaky Planet". [123] [124]
As of February 2021 [update] , Davenport hosted a monthly Twitch show called Something of a Different Color, which featured a cast of POC performers. [125] The third season of Da Fuq premiered in May of that year. [126]
In November 2021, Davenport and Manila Luzon released a collaborative single and music video called "Love Is God", the first song off of Davenport's five-track EP of the same name, which debuted in January 2022. Love Is God spans genres including pop, disco, house and reggaeton, [127] and it features collaborations with Kevin Aviance, LaLa Ri, Jackie Cox and Tammie Brown. [128] [129] [130] The music video for "Thrive", the track with Aviance, was released together with the EP. [131] [132] [133] A short musical film titled Love Is God: The Visual Album, consisting of "a story woven together by all the songs on the EP", was scheduled to come out later in 2022. [134] [135] [136] Davenport directed the film. [127]
Davenport co-starred (as herself) in God Save the Queens, a feature-length film that premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2023. [30] [137] [138] The film "[follows] three different Drag Queens, in LA, New York and Las Vegas, all navigating their way through their careers and personal struggles". [98] [137]
In June 2023, Davenport debuted a single called "Mighty Legendary". [139] A "Legends Only" remix of the song, featuring Alaska Thunderfuck, was released with an accompanying music video in September of that year. The video, sponsored by the online PrEP provider Mistr, was partially filmed at the Trixie Motel. [140]
Davenport is to release a line of perfume called Pollen 8 [30] [137] and a makeup line called Bee Yourself. [127] She is also working on a musical collaboration with Jan Sport [124] [141] and a podcast called The Wake and Bake with Jasmine Masters. [127] [136]
What I wish I had more opportunity to do was show the world that my drag is not just about being beautiful or ferocious. It's really social commentary. I create things that speak to the world I wanna see.
–Davenport, in an interview with the Houston Chronicle [142]
Davenport has said that it is important to her to use her career in drag to help others, and she often bases her looks, performances and music on political themes. [9] [72] [77] [143] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she stated, "I like to use my drag as a platform for the voiceless; for women, people of color, and those who aren't being heard." [51] She further said to KCRW that drag has "become a protest, because now when I go to work, I'm doing this in spite of what might happen to me". [144] Davenport has been particularly outspoken about racial equality and gun control, motivated by the impact that racism and gun violence have had on her life since childhood. [12] [74]
In November 2018, Davenport led the We Vote parade, a procession through New York City that encouraged Americans to vote in the 2018 midterm elections. [145] [146] The final runway look she wore on Drag Race was an homage to an outfit Lady Gaga wore while performing "Angel Down", a tribute to Trayvon Martin. [12] [142] In fall 2019, Davenport and other former Miss'd America titleholders spoke out against the pageant's decision to introduce a rule banning trans women from competing. Davenport told Instinct magazine:
Being Miss'd America is one of my favorite accomplishments. I enjoyed being able to stand for a community in need, and being able to use my art to help the LGBT folks of Atlantic City. While I will forever be moved and appreciative of the work done by the Greater Atlantic City LGBT Alliance [the charity that organizes the pageant], I no longer agree with some of the policies of the Miss'd America Pageant. ... It has taken me some time, but have [ sic ] decided I can no longer support them while that policy is in place. I want it to be clear that this is no boycott; I will no longer be a a [ sic ] judge and won't be a part of crowning, but I am going to support my friends competing. I know how much being Miss'd America cultivated the queen I am today, and I want that for all of my sisters.... I believe every member and supporter of the LGBT community should be able compete for this prestigious title. [147]
On the subject of Drag Race's lack of trans contestants, Davenport said, "[I]t is all of our responsibility to deal with that. I don't think that it's wise for us to point the finger. It's Drag Race's opportunity to accept trans people, but it's all of our social obligation to create this platforms [ sic ]." [148]
At the start of the 2020 George Floyd protests, Davenport teamed up with two fellow New York City drag queens, Dèvo Monique and Marti Gould Cummings, to ask every queer venue in the city to pledge to hire more black staff and entertainment. [149] In a June 2020 interview, she described an incident in which she was subjected to police brutality in Harlem. She said that roughly ten years earlier (c. 2010), she had been on her way to the supermarket when she was apprehended by police officers, thrown to the ground, and handcuffed. One officer placed a knee on her neck while another searched her. When they did not find anything on her person, they told her they had stopped her because her profile matched a description they had received. Davenport asked the officers if they would apologize for what they had done to her, and they replied, "You should be happy you're not going to jail today." The event served as one of the inspirations for "Draw the Blood", which features a reenactment of Davenport's encounter with the police in its music video. [150]
On Easter Sunday in 2023, Davenport and Drag Race season 14 contestant Kerri Colby performed at Drag March Los Angeles, a demonstration organized by the Los Angeles LGBT Center against anti-LGBT legislation. [151] [152] [144]
In September and October 2018, Davenport was at the center of a controversy over racist practices at The Monster, a popular gay bar in New York City's West Village, where she had hosted a weekly show called "Manster" for six years. [143] The incident began in late September 2018, when bar manager Italo Lopez sent text messages to Davenport's manager, DJ Mitch Ferrino, indicating that a flyer for "Manster" appeared to be promoting a "black night" and that this was bad for business. [143] [153] Lopez also said that the two black dancers on the flyer needed to be replaced by someone "beautiful" and that the image of Davenport herself needed to be smaller. [143] [154] After Ferrino showed Davenport the messages, she reached out to bar owner Charles Rice with concerns about the overtones of Lopez's words, but Rice did not respond. [153] [155] Following this, on September 29, 2018, Davenport appeared at "Manster" as planned. However, instead of performing, she announced she would no longer be able to work at The Monster. [155] She shared what Lopez had said with the audience and ended her two-minute speech by stating, "I cannot be a part of this anymore. If you don't want my people at the party, I won't be here." [153] [155]
Shortly thereafter, a number of other drag queens canceled their regular shows at The Monster. [154] Ferrino also withdrew his weekly event LookQueen, which was started in 2014 by Bob the Drag Queen, from the bar. [154] [155] LookQueen's acting host, Shuga Cain, had urged Ferrino to do so. [155] Rice initially blamed Ferrino and Davenport for the backlash he experienced, calling the incident a smear campaign that he ascribed to Ferrino "[having] an axe to grind with [Lopez]". [156] He further stated that he believed Ferrino should not have shown Lopez's messages to Davenport, chalking up their content to a miscommunication stemming from Lopez's non-native English. [143] [154] [155] Later on, Rice apologized, and Lopez resigned from his position. [155] [156] [157] Rice arranged for staff at The Monster to undergo racial sensitivity training, but he declined Davenport's invitation to have a moderated public discussion about the matter. [156]
Having known he was gay for most of his life, [158] Heath-Clark said, "The first person I ever came out to was my godfather and math teacher—my Uncle John. He overheard me in the classroom being attacked for my sexual orientation, and afterwards, he promised me that even if what he heard was true, he would always have my back." [22] Heath-Clark came out to his mother at age 19, when he called her to talk after breaking up with his first boyfriend. [158] Her response was supportive. [159] [160] Though she embraced him as a gay man, she was initially unhappy with his decision to pursue drag, but she changed her mind after seeing him perform. [161] Heath-Clark's father learned he was a drag queen years later, in 2013, when he visited New York to see Heath-Clark act in The Orion Experience. [61] He responded with enthusiasm and support. [61]
Heath-Clark identifies as non-binary [7] [144] [162] and pansexual. [163] He and his husband, John, wed on December 31, 2012, at the Hartley House in Hell's Kitchen. [34] [35] [164] The two have a pet cat. [34] Heath-Clark resided in New York City until late 2019, when he relocated to Los Angeles following the airing of his season of Drag Race. [9] [165] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, he continued to work in both cities, traveling regularly between them. [166]
As of May 2020, Heath-Clark keeps a vegan diet. [167] He stopped drinking alcohol a few months after filming Drag Race [168] [169] but later resumed its consumption. [131] He has stated that he suffers from anxiety. [51]
Hollywood director Lee Daniels, who created the television series Empire and produced the films Monster's Ball and Precious , is Heath-Clark's cousin. [34] [170] [171]
Title | Details | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|
Electrohoney |
| [2] [172] |
Title | Details | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|
Raw and Unfiltered |
| [43] [72] |
Love Is God |
| [130] [173] |
Title | Year | Album | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
"Indestructible" | 2013 | Electrohoney | Credited to Electrohoney | [174] |
"T.R.O.U.B.L.E" (feat. Orion) | 2015 | Non-album single | Credited as Sir Honey Davenport | [63] [65] |
"The Hive" | 2019 | Raw and Unfiltered | [25] | |
"Warrior" | [12] | |||
"Raw and Unfiltered" | [175] | |||
"Made Like You" | [176] | |||
"Cocoa Butter" (feat. Jayse Vegas, Kareem McJagger, Nedra Belle & Will Sheridan) | [83] | |||
"Worship Me" | Co-credited with Orion Simprini | [85] | ||
"Stan for You" (feat. Yvie Oddly) | Non-album singles | [48] [89] | ||
"Present (Tie You Down)" | [108] | |||
"Draw the Blood" (feat. Electropoint) | 2020 | Co-credited with Aja | [48] | |
"Digital Rainbow" (feat. Yvie Oddly, Widow Von'Du, Cazwell & Jayse Vegas) | [115] | |||
"Freaky Planet" | Co-credited with Loris | [123] [124] | ||
"Love Is God" (feat. Electropoint) | 2021 | Love Is God | Co-credited with Manila Luzon | [128] [129] |
"Thrive" (feat. Kevin Aviance) | 2022 | [130] [132] [133] | ||
"Mighty Legendary" | 2023 | Non-album singles | [139] | |
"Throw Money" | 2024 | [177] |
Title | Year | Album | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
"Body (Remix)" (Jayse Vegas feat. Honey Davenport) | 2017 | Non-album singles | [178] |
"Energy (Remix)" (Jayse Vegas feat. Will Sheridan, Honey Davenport, King Paputi, Kelvin Love, Christopher Ambrose, Goldilocks & Robert Garcia) | 2020 | [111] |
Year | Title | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | God Save the Queens | Herself | [138] |
Year | Title | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen | Guest (Whitney Houston impersonator) | [66] [67] |
2019 | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 11) | Contestant (13th place) | [72] |
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (season 11) | Herself |
Year | Title | Role | Producer | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2014 | The Finish Line | Co-host (with Kareem McJagger) | Self-produced | [179] [180] |
2019 | Whatcha Packin' | Guest | VH1 | [181] |
Bootleg Fashion Photo RuView | Guest | Yuhua Hamasaki | [182] | |
Cosmo Queens | Guest star | Cosmopolitan | [176] | |
I've Never Had a ... | Guest | Vice | [183] | |
Take a Look Back | Guest | AJ Mattioli | [184] | |
Puff Puff Sessions | Guest | World of Wonder | [185] | |
Bootleg Opinions | Guest | Yuhua Hamasaki | [186] | |
Lash Out | Host | BeeZee Productions | [187] | |
Black Girl Beauty | Guest panelist | VH1 | [103] [104] | |
2019–present | Da Fuq | Host | BeeZee Productions | [25] [51] [188] |
2020 | Hey Qween! | Guest | Jonny McGovern | [189] |
Tub Talk | Host | Self-produced | [88] | |
Hey Qween PRIDE 2020 | Guest | Johnny McGovern | [190] | |
2021 | Cosmo Queens UK | Guest star | Cosmopolitan UK | [191] |
Trade with Honey and Dakota | Co-host (with Dakota Payne) | BeeZee Productions | [192] | |
Hot T: Celebrity Gossip & Hollywood Shade | Guest panelist | Jonny McGovern | [193] | |
The Browns | Guest star | OUTtv | [127] [194] | |
2022 | Binge Queens | Co-host | World of Wonder | [195] [196] |
Open to It | Wigonometry | Jonathan James and Sabrina Cooper | [197] [198] | |
Tongue Thai'd | Self | World of Wonder | [199] |
Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Ref(s) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lead artist | Director | ||||
2013 | "Indestructible" (Electrohoney) | Yes | No | Credited as a member of Electrohoney | [174] |
2015 | "T.R.O.U.B.L.E" (feat. Orion) | Yes | No | Credited as Sir Honey Davenport | [63] [65] |
2019 | "The Hive" (short) | Yes | No | [1] | |
"Warrior" (short) | Yes | No | [12] | ||
"Raw and Unfiltered" (short) | Yes | No | [200] | ||
"Made Like You" (short) | Yes | No | [201] | ||
"Cocoa Butter" | Yes | No | [202] | ||
"Stan for You" (feat. Yvie Oddly) | Yes | No | [90] | ||
"Worship Me" | Yes | No | Co-credited with Orion Simprini | [203] | |
"Present (Tie You Down)" (short) | Yes | No | [108] | ||
2020 | "Raw and Unfiltered" (NSFW) | Yes | No | Released only on DragFor.Fans | [204] |
"Raw and Unfiltered" (censored) | Yes | No | [205] | ||
"Draw the Blood" (feat. Electropoint) | Yes | Yes | Co-credited as lead artist with Aja | [30] [206] | |
"Digital Rainbow" (feat. Yvie Oddly, Widow Von'Du, Jayse Vegas & Cazwell) | Yes | No | [115] | ||
"Made Like You (Quarantine Edition)" | Yes | Yes | [207] | ||
"Sweet Love" (Shuga Cain) | No | Yes | Credited as assistant director; artist credit to Shuga Cain | [119] | |
"Warrior (Quarantine Edition)" | Yes | No | New full-length video accompanied by re-release of song | [81] [120] | |
"Freaky Planet" | Yes | No | Co-credited as lead artist with Loris | [123] [124] | |
"Present (Quarantine Edition)" | Yes | No | New full-length video | [208] | |
2021 | "Red Neon Light" (Vegas Valentine) | No | Yes | Credited as co-director; artist credit to Vegas Valentine | [209] |
"An Other Realm" (Maxi Glamour feat. Tense Era) | No | Yes | Credited as director; artist credit to Maxi Glamour | [210] | |
"Love Is God" (feat. Electropoint) | Yes | No | Co-credited as lead artist with Manila Luzon | [128] [129] | |
2022 | "Thrive" (feat. Kevin Aviance) | Yes | Yes | [132] [133] | |
2023 | "Mighty Legendary (Legends Only Remix)" (feat. Alaska Thunderfuck) | Yes | No | [140] [211] |
Year | Title | Artist | Role | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2017 | "Body (Remix)" | Jayse Vegas feat. Honey Davenport | Feature | [178] |
2018 | "Give You Life" | Jayse Vegas feat. Kareem McJagger & Kimmi Moore | Cameo | [212] |
2019 | "Pretty Hot and Tasty" | Eureka O'Hara | Cameo | [92] |
"No Day Like Today" | Lovari & Adam Barta | Cameo | [95] [96] | |
2020 | "Hot Sauce and High Heels (Kinky Boots Remix)" | Monique Heart | Cameo | [112] |
"Bitch Got Hips" | Socia(Lites) | Cameo | [114] | |
"Nerves of Steel" | Erasure | Cameo | [118] [213] | |
"Shooting Star – A Revealing New Musical's COVID-19 Relief Fundraising Medley" | The cast of Shooting Star – A Revealing New Musical | Cameo | [121] | |
2022 | "Werq!" | Eureka O'Hara | Cameo | [214] |
"S.A.D." | Dakota Payne | Cameo | [215] |
Year | Production | Role | Venue | Notes | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | The Electric Highway | Herself | XL Nightclub | Credited as Sir Honey Davenport | [2] |
The Orion Experience | The Queen of White Lies | XL Nightclub | Credited as Sir Honey Davenport | [60] | |
2017–2018 | Trinkets | Diva | Gene Frankel Theatre | [68] [71] | |
2019 | Raw and Unfiltered | Herself | Laurie Beechman Theatre | [86] | |
Stocking Stuffer: A Christmas Show with Balls | Herself | Laurie Beechman Theatre | [105] [106] | ||
Club Cumming | Closing night | [107] |
Morgan McMichaels is the stage name of Scottish-American drag performer Thomas White, best known as a contestant on the second season of the reality television competition RuPaul's Drag Race, as well as the third season of the show's All-Stars spinoff. She has also been involved in various Drag Race spin-offs, including RuPaul's Drag U and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.
Michael R. Steck, better known by the stage name Pandora Boxx, is an American drag queen, comedian, and reality television personality from Rochester, New York. Boxx competed in the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race, placing fifth and winning Miss Congeniality, and subsequently returned for the first and sixth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Boxx also appeared in all three seasons of the Drag Race spin-off series RuPaul's Drag U. Outside of reality television, Pandora Boxx has toured internationally, released several musical singles, and performed in film, television, and theatre.
Sutan Ibrahim Karim Amrullah, often shortened to Sutan Amrull, is an American drag performer and make-up artist who also goes by the stage name Raja Gemini or simply Raja. They are best known for winning the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Amrullah later returned to compete on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, an all-winners season, where they won the title "Queen Of She Done Already Done Had Herses". Outside of drag, Amrullah is also known for their makeup artistry on the reality television show America's Next Top Model. Amrullah's clients include Tyra Banks, Dita von Teese, Pamela Anderson, Paulina Porizkova, Iman, Iggy Azalea, RuPaul, and Twiggy. Since 2009, Amrullah has been make-up artist to singer Adam Lambert for print media, live U.S. appearances, and Lambert's international 2010 Glam Nation Tour.
Martell Robinson, known by the stage name Jasmine Diane Masters, best known simply as Jasmine Masters, is an American drag queen, internet celebrity, YouTuber, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for competing on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Robinson is responsible for several viral videos, many of which have become memes, most notably And I Oop! which was the most used gif of 2019.
Zavion Michael Davenport, better known by the stage name Chi Chi DeVayne, was an American drag queen and reality television personality who came to international attention on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and on the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. DeVayne began her drag career in her native Shreveport, Louisiana, where she was known locally prior to her 2016 debut on Drag Race. Following her time on the show, DeVayne embarked on a number of domestic and international tours, and she was featured on several web series about drag.
Cynthia Lee Fontaine is the stage name of Carlos Díaz Hernández, a Puerto Rican drag performer and reality television personality from Austin, Texas, best known for competing on the eighth and ninth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race. She won the title of Miss Congeniality on season 8.
James Jeffrey Wirth, better known as Jaymes Mansfield, is an American drag queen, TV personality, and YouTuber. She is best known for competing on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and playing the part of Delia Von Whitewoman in the film The Bitch Who Stole Christmas.
Alexander J. Michaels, stage name Alexis Michelle, is an American drag queen and singer who came to international attention on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. As of 2019, she stars in the TLC transformational makeover television series Dragnificent as the makeup and body image expert. She released her debut album, Lovefool, in 2018.
Joshua Jamal Jones, better known by the stage name Trinity Kardashian Bonét, is an American drag queen, performer, celebrity impersonator, actor and singer who came to international attention on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2014. Bonet released her first single, "I'm a Drag Queen" on September 6, 2017, and the accompanying music video was later released on October, 18. On May 26, 2021, she was announced as part of the cast for RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 6 alongside 12 other contestants.
Pierre Leverne Dease, better known by the stage name Nina Bo'nina Brown, is an American drag queen and television personality best known for starring on the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she placed sixth.
Reuben Asberry Jr., known professionally as Kennedy Davenport, is a drag queen, television personality, and dancer from Dallas, Texas, who came to international attention on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race, placing fourth overall, the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, where she was the runner-up, and the second season of Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World.
Mayhem Miller is the stage name of Dequan Armand Johnson, an American drag performer and actor, best known for competing on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2018), the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2020), and the second series of RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World (2024).
Ongina is the stage name of Ryan Ong Palao, a Filipino-American drag performer and HIV activist who came to international attention on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Since appearing on the show, Ongina has been featured in a number of web series produced by World of Wonder, including Wait, What?, Ring My Bell, and Fashion Photo RuView. Ongina was one of the first reality TV stars to come out as HIV-positive.
Kylie Sonique Love, formerly known as Sonique, is an American entertainer, singer, dancer, model and reality television personality. She rose to prominence as a contestant on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2009, and achieved further popularity by winning the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars eleven years later in 2021. Love was the first person to ever come out as transgender on any reality TV show. Upon winning All Stars 6, Love became the second transgender winner in the Drag Race franchise and was the first trans woman to win an American series of Drag Race. Additionally, in 2020, she co-hosted Translation Season 1, the first talk show on a major network hosted by an all-trans cast. Her first single, "Santa, Please Come Home", was released in 2018.
Benni Miller, better known by the stage name Ra'Jah O'Hara, is an American drag queen best known for winning the first season of Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World. She previously competed on the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2019 and the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2021.
Silky Nutmeg Ganache is an American drag performer from Chicago, Illinois, who came to international attention in 2019 when she competed on the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race finishing tied for third place/fourth place, and later competed on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars in 2021. She has also been involved in numerous Drag Race spin-offs, including RuPaul's Drag Race: Vegas Revue (2020) and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race (2022). She also competed in the first Canadian-based international All Stars spin-off series, Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World in 2022, finishing as a runner-up.
A'Keria Chanel Davenport is the stage name of Gregory D'Wayne, an American drag queen best known for competing on the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race (2019) and the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (2021). As a professional entertainer, she has won several national titles in drag pageantry systems, including Miss Black Universe in 2017. Davenport was recognized by Dallas Voice as a Texan of the Year in 2019.
Heidi N Closet is the stage name of Trevien Anthonie Cheek, an American drag queen from Ramseur, North Carolina, best known for competing on the twelfth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she placed 6th and won the Miss Congeniality award. She returned to the eighth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, but decided to quit the competition early, citing her mental health and wellbeing as the reason for her withdrawal.
Kareemia Baines, known professionally as Lady Red Couture, was an American drag queen and singer best known as the co-host of Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern. Born in Park City, Utah, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she became a fixture of the local drag scene. She released an album, #Stuntqueen, in 2018, and she was featured in a number of other drag queens' singles and music videos throughout the 2010s. She also starred in Judge Lady Red, another web series produced by McGovern. Baines died on July 25, 2020, after a flare-up of cyclic vomiting syndrome, a chronic condition that affected her throughout her life.
Hey Qween! is a talk show series which aired on the Hey Qween! YouTube channel from 2014 to 2021, hosted by Jonny McGovern. The first eight seasons were co-hosted by Lady Red Couture prior to her death in 2020. Described as a "gay web series" and an LGBTQ talk show, Hey Qween! has featured many contestants from RuPaul's Drag Race as guests.
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