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This is a list of drag kings , sometimes known as male impersonators, drag performers, or drag artists. A drag king is a person who dresses in masculine clothes and hides their regular features (through such things as breast binding) for special occasions, often to perform, entertain, or engage in social activism. Many, but not all, drag kings are members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Male name | Name | Nationality | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
E. L. Brown | Lillyn Brown | American | [1] |
Stormé DeLarverie | American | [2] [3] | |
Elvis Herselvis | Leigh Crow | American | [4] |
Florence Hines | American | [5] | |
Hetty King | Winifred Emms | English | [6] |
Pepi Litman | Pesha Kahane | [7] | |
Macha | Elizabeth Marrero | American | [8] |
LoUis CYfer | Lucy Jane Parkinson | British | [9] |
Dirk Diggler | Deb Pearce | Canadian | [10] |
Burlington Bertie | Ella Shields | American | [6] |
Vesta Tilley | Matilda Alice Powles | English | [11] |
Diane Torr | Scottish | [12] | |
Ella Wesner | American | [13] | |
Minnie Tittell Brune | American | [14] | |
Charles | Annie Hindle | English/American | [15] |
Hugo Grrrl | George Fowler | New Zealander | [16] |
Wang Newton | Mei-yin | Taiwanese/American | [17] |
Landon Cider | Kristine Bellaluna | American | [18] |
Adam All | Jen Powell | British | [19] |
Vico Suave | Vico Ortiz | Puerto Rican | [20] |
Marcus Massalami | Melisa Meseguer | Spaniard | [21] |
Nico Elsker | Nicolás Otero | Spaniard | [22] |
Ken Pollet | Elena Ramírez | Spaniard | [23] |
HercuSleaze | Meags Fitzgerald | Canadian | [24] [25] |
Jarvis Hammer | American | [26] | |
"Bert" Whitman | Alberta Whitman | American | [27] [28] |
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and have been a part of gay culture.
Female impersonation is a type of theatrical performance where a man dresses in women's clothing for the sole purpose of entertaining an audience. While the term female impersonator is sometimes used interchangeably with drag queen, they are not the same. Drag as an art form is associated with queer identity whereas female impersonation may come from a wide a range of gender identity paradigms, including heteronormativity. Additionally, many drag artists view drag as a lived form of self-expression or creativity, and perceive drag as something that is not limited to the stage or to performance. In contrast, female impersonation is specifically limited to performance and may or may not involve an LGBTQI point of view.
Drag kings have historically been mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of an individual or group routine. As documented in the 2003 Journal of Homosexuality, in more recent years the world of drag kings has broadened to include performers of all gender expressions. A typical drag show may incorporate dancing, acting, stand-up comedy and singing, either live or lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks. Drag kings often perform as exaggeratedly macho male characters, portray characters such as construction workers and rappers, or impersonate male celebrities like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Tim McGraw. Drag kings may also perform as personas that do not clearly align with the gender binary. Drag personas that combine both stereotypically masculine and feminine traits are common in modern drag king shows.
Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves cross-dressing. A drag queen is someone who performs femininely and a drag king is someone who performs masculinely. Performances often involve comedy, social satire, and at times political commentary. The term may be used as a noun as in the expression in drag or as an adjective as in drag show.
A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women, typically in a bar or nightclub. Shows can range from burlesque-style, adult themed nightclub acts to all-ages events with sing-alongs and story times.
An AFAB queen, diva queen or hyper queen is a drag queen who is a woman, or a non-binary person who was born a female. These performers are generally indistinguishable from the more common male or transgender female drag queens in artistic style and techniques.
The Pansy Craze was a period of increased LGBT visibility in American popular culture from the late-1920s until the mid-1930s. During the "craze," drag queens — known as "pansy performers" — experienced a surge in underground popularity, especially in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The exact dates of the movement are debated, with a range from the late 1920s until 1935.
The Ballroom scene is an African-American and Latino underground LGBTQ+ subculture. Its origins can be found in drag balls of the mid-19th century United States, such as those hosted by William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved Black man in Washington D.C.. By the early 20th century, integrated drag balls were popular in cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. In the mid-20th century, as a response to racism in integrated drag spaces, the balls evolved into house ballroom, where Black and Latino attendees could "walk" in a variety of categories for trophies and cash prizes. Most participants in ballroom belong to groups known as "houses", where chosen families of friends form relationships and communities separate from their families of origin, from which they may be estranged. The influence of ballroom culture can be seen in dance, language, music, and popular culture, and the community still exists today.
Murray Hill is a New York City comedian and drag king entertainer. He is the entertainer persona of Busby Murray Gallagher, although this persona is maintained even in private settings. Murray Hill is the self-proclaimed "hardest-working middle-aged man in show business".
In gay slang, queen is a term used to refer to a flamboyant or effeminate gay man. The term can either be pejorative or celebrated as a type of self-identification.
Stormé DeLarverie was an American woman known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to DeLarverie and many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall uprising, spurring the crowd to action. She was born in New Orleans, to an African American mother and a white father. She is remembered as a gay civil rights icon and entertainer, who performed and hosted at the Apollo Theater and Radio City Music Hall. She worked for much of her life as an MC, singer, bouncer, bodyguard, and volunteer street patrol worker, the "guardian of lesbians in the Village". She is known as "the Rosa Parks of the gay community."
The San Francisco Drag King Contest is an annual contest for drag kings held in San Francisco, California and founded by performer and producer, Fudgie Frottage. It is the biggest drag king contest in the world, and the longest running drag king competition in the U.S. The related International Drag King Community Extravaganza (IDKE) is the largest drag king performance event in the world but not a contest. The 26th Annual San Francisco Drag King Contest will be held Sunday, August 21st, 2022.
Chad Michael Storbeck, known professionally as Chad Michaels, is an American drag performer and professional Cher impersonator. He was the runner-up of the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, alongside Phi Phi O'Hara, and the winner of the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. In 2013, he released "Tragic Girl", his debut single and music video.
Finocchio'sClub was a former nightclub and bar in operation from 1936 to 1999 in North Beach, San Francisco, California. The club started as a speakeasy called the 201 Club in 1929 located at 406 Stockton Street. In 1933, with the repeal of prohibition, the club moved upstairs and started to offer female impersonation acts; after police raids in 1936 the club relocated to the larger 506 Broadway location. Finocchio's night club opened June 15, 1936 and was located in San Francisco, California, above Enrico's Cafe at 506 Broadway Street in North Beach.
Cherdonna Shinatra is the stage name of Jody Kuehner, a Seattle-based, American dancer, drag queen and performance artist. Kuehner won the Stranger Genius Award in Performance in 2015.
Robbie Turner is the stage name of Jeremy Baird, an American drag queen and writer most known for competing on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Wang Newton is a professional drag king and Asian LGBT figure whilst running "Wang TV" on YouTube. They were featured in a 2021 New York Times article by Frank DeCaro profiling notable American drag kings. Performing since 2004, "Dr. Wang" is one of the few full-time drag king performers with an international profile. Their name is a reference to Las Vegas singer Wayne Newton.
The Casino was a gay and lesbian dance club, café, pool hall, and card room located in Pioneer Square in Seattle. It was opened by Joseph Bellotti in 1930 in the basement of the building where The Double Header was located. It was known as one of the places most welcoming of gays on the West Coast.
Landon Cider is an American drag king, actor and host. He won season 3 of The Boulet Brothers' Dragula and was crowned the "World's Next Drag Supermonster".