Tammy Faye Starlite is the stage name of Tammy Lang, an American performance artist, cabaret performer, and actress known for her stage shows that feature original characters and interpretations of famous musicians. [1]
Tammy Faye Starlite is the stage name of Tammy Lang, an American performance artist, cabaret performer, and actress known for her stage shows that feature original characters and interpretations of famous musicians. [1]
In the 1990s Lang was an actress and sketch comedian in New York City, playing one of two "wacky maids" on the long-running soap opera Guiding Light, opposite Allison Janney. [2] She also did voice performance, appearing on the animated MTV series Downtown and as a character in Last Call (game), a comedic bartending simulation. [3] In 2001 she appeared as a "gun toting moll" in the Louis C.K. movie Pootie Tang. [4]
Her alter egos and characters were developed in "alternative comedy venues" including Lakeside Lounge and Luna Lounge in New York City. [5]
Lang's first original comedic cabaret character, Tammy Faye Starlite, is a fictional right-wing country singer. The character debuted in 1996. Her first original song was "God Has Launched a Tennent in My Uterus", and she honed the act in New York City and in Nashville venues including the Bluebird Cafe. [5]
Starlite is known for original songs and outrageous transgressive statements that the New York Times said made Lang a “downtown club star.” [6]
Tammy Faye Starlite performed with a band called the Angels of Mercy, which included various performers including Daily Show Writer Eric Drysdale, [7] as well as other musicians including Elvis Costello And The Attractions' drummer Pete Thomas and Billy Ficca from Television. [8]
Tamar is a fictional Israeli pop star and the first alter ego that draws from Lang’s jewish heritage in her show titled “Yesterday, Today, and Tamar”, co-written with Rachel Lictman. [9]
Since 2010 Lang has been performing as Nico, the late singer, actress and member of the Velvet Underground. [10]
Rolling Stone said, “The show mocks and honors its subject with loving regard.” [11] The NY Times called the show "howlingly funny" and a "funny, morbidly fascinating night of theater." [12]
Lang has said her show Nico: Underground stemmed from an appreciation of the Velvet Underground that led Lang to discover Nico's "haunting and stunning" vocals. [13] Joe's Pub gave Lang a weekly residency to perform as Nico in May 2024. [14]
Lang gave tribute to Marianne Faithfull, late musician and actress well known for her association with The Rolling Stones. Along with her one-woman shows that salute Faithfull, in December 2023, Lang was one of 25 artists on a Marianne Faithfull tribute album which was produced to help raise money for Faithfull’s medical expenses relating to long COVID. [13]
Lang got into The Rolling Stones while in high school in the 80s, and described the band as, "my gateway drug." [13] She began performing as Mick Jagger in The Mike Hunt Band. Lang is known to perform albums in their entirety, and in December 2024, Lang performed the entire album Beggar's Banquet to benefit NJArts.net. Lang describes her version of Mick Jagger as "just a really bad accent and being really bitchy, and jumping around.” [15]
She is originally from New York City and now resides in Hoboken, NJ with her husband, guitarist Keith Hartel. [1]
Christa Päffgen, known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model.
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 5 single "As Tears Go By" and became one of the leading female artists of the British Invasion in the United States.
Tamara Faye Messner was an American evangelist. She co-founded the televangelist program The PTL Club with her husband Jim Bakker in 1974. They had hosted their own puppet-show series for local programming in the early 1960s; Messner also had a career as a recording artist. In 1978, she and Bakker built Heritage USA, a Christian theme park.
Annette O'Toole is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She is known for portraying Lisa Bridges in the television series Nash Bridges, adult Beverly Marsh in the 1990 television mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic horror novel It, Lana Lang in Superman III, Kathy in the romantic-comedy film Cross My Heart, and Martha Kent on the television series Smallville.
Anita Pallenberg was an Italian-German film actress, artist, and model. A style icon and "It Girl" of the 1960s and 1970s, Pallenberg was credited as the muse of the Rolling Stones: she was the romantic partner of the Stones multi-instrumentalist, Brian Jones, and later, from 1967 to 1980, the partner of Stones guitarist Keith Richards, with whom she had three children.
Luna Lounge was a bar and music club located at 171 Ludlow Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Opened in 1995 by Dianne Galliano and Robert Sacher, it was a popular venue for local bands and stand-up comics. Luna Lounge is notable as the place where Elliott Smith wrote the songs for his first major label release, XO.
Tammy Lee Grimes was an American film and stage actress and singer.
"As Tears Go By" is a song written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham. Marianne Faithfull recorded and released it as a single in the United Kingdom in 1964. Her song peaked at number nine on both the UK and Irish singles charts. Later, the Rolling Stones recorded their own version, which was included on the American album December's Children . London Records released it as a single, which reached number six in the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
Broken English is the seventh studio album by English singer Marianne Faithfull. It was released on 2 November 1979 by Island Records. The album marked a major comeback for Faithfull after years of suffering due to drug abuse, homelessness, and anorexia. It is often regarded as her definitive recording, and Faithfull herself described it as her "masterpiece".
"Sister Morphine" is a song written by Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Faithfull released the original version of the song as the B-side to her Decca Records single "Something Better" on 21 February 1969. A different version was released two years later by the Rolling Stones for their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.
Kissin Time is the 15th studio album by British singer Marianne Faithfull.
Vagabond Ways is the 14th studio album by British singer Marianne Faithfull. This is her first album of original material since A Secret Life (1994). This work, produced by Daniel Lanois and Mark Howard, is a balladry-like extension of her then neo-cabaret persona, interpreting songs by herself and legendary songwriters of her generation, like Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Leonard Cohen and the songwriting duo Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Many of the stories told on this album were adapted from memories that didn't make her autobiography or her observations of social struggles by which she felt particularly moved.
"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. It was originally recorded and released as a single, on the CBS label, in 1974 by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, with the name spelled "Jordon". The song also appears on their 1975 compilation album The Ballad Of Lucy Jordon. The song describes the disillusionment and mental deterioration of a suburban housewife, who climbs to a rooftop "when the laughter grew too loud".
Eric Drysdale is a writer for The Colbert Report,The Daily Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. He has been nominated for twenty-one Emmys and won ten. In addition to TV writing, Drysdale has written and produced live shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and also performs stand-up.
Jessica Michelle Chastain is an American actress and producer. Known for primarily starring in projects with feminist themes, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012.
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Angus MacLise. In 1965, MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker, who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, experimentation, and nihilistic attitude were also instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and several other genres.
WTF with Marc Maron is a weekly podcast and radio show hosted by stand-up comedian Marc Maron. The show was launched in September 2009. The show is produced by Maron's former Air America co-worker Brendan McDonald.
The 1980 Floor Show was a rock musical spectacle featuring English rock musician David Bowie as the protagonist, held at the Marquee Club in Soho, London, on October 18–20, 1973. It was broadcast in the United States by NBC on November 16, 1973, as part of the series The Midnight Special, and presented the last performance of Bowie as his character Ziggy Stardust.
Rachel Lichtman is an American visual artist, comedy writer, and filmmaker, who created the independent, retro-futuristic channel Network 77 in 2017. Network 77 evolved into Programme 4, an audio/visual channel in the analog aesthetic of television and radio of the 60s and 70s, “broadcasting” from the fictional town of Golden Sands. Her work features a variety of comedy and music programming, and has been described as "funny as classic SCTV and as retro-accurate as Documentary Now!" Lichtman's style is defined by its deeply referenced pop culture humor and vintage design.
Tammy Faye is a biographic stage musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Jake Shears and a book by James Graham, based on the life of Tammy Faye Messner.
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