List of drag kings

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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.

Contents

Performers

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
Male nameNameNationalityNotes
E. L. Brown Lillyn Brown American [1]
Stormé DeLarverie American [2] [3]
Elvis Herselvis Leigh CrowAmerican [4]
Florence Hines American [5]
Hetty King Winifred EmmsEnglish [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 PowlesEnglish [11]
Diane Torr Scottish [12]
Ella Wesner American [13]
Minnie Tittell Brune American [14]
Charles Annie Hindle English/American [15]
Hugo Grrrl George FowlerNew Zealander [16]
Wang Newton Mei-yinTaiwanese/American [17]
Landon Cider Kristine BellalunaAmerican [18]
Adam All Jen PowellBritish [19]
Vico Suave Vico Ortiz Puerto Rican [20]
Marcus Massalami  [ es ]Melisa MeseguerSpaniard [21]
Nico Elsker  [ es ]Nicolás OteroSpaniard [22]
Ken Pollet  [ es ]Elena RamírezSpaniard [23]
HercuSleaze Meags Fitzgerald Canadian [24] [25]
Jarvis Hammer American [26]
"Bert" Whitman Alberta Whitman American [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drag queen</span> Entertainer dressed and acting with exaggerated femininity

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drag king</span> Mostly female performance artists who dress and behave in masculine way for performance

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 they will 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drag show</span> Drag king or drag queen performance 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Female queen (drag)</span> Subtype of drag queen

A female queen, diva queen, AFAB queen or hyper queen is a drag queen who is a cisgender woman or a nonbinary person who was assigned female at birth. These performers are generally indistinguishable from the more common cisgender male or transgender female drag queens in artistic style and techniques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pansy Craze</span> The Pansy Craze was a prohibition-era popularization of drag queens within the LGBTQ community

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 Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. The exact dates of the movement are debated, with a range from the late 1920s until 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ball culture</span> Black and Latino LGBT subculture in the United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Hill (performer)</span> American comedian

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stormé DeLarverie</span> American singer, activist and instigator of the Stonewall Uprising (1920–2014)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chad Michaels</span> American drag performer and Cher impersonator

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violet Chachki</span> American drag queen (born 1992)

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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landon Cider</span> American drag king, actor and host

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nymphia Wind</span> Taiwanese-American drag performer

Nymphia Wind is the stage name of Leo Tsao, a Taiwanese-American drag performer and dressmaker. She is currently a contestant on season 16 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

References

  1. ↑ "Biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Women Make Movies | Storme The Lady of the Jewel Box". Wmm.com. Retrieved 2010-08-01.
  3. ↑ DEEPTI HAJELA. "Stonewall activist Storme DeLarverie dies at 93". sandiegouniontribune.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 2017-10-12.
  4. ↑ Massengill, David (2000-06-21). "Long Live the Kings! Drag Kings are making a scene in Seattle". Seattle Weekly. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
  5. ↑ Abbott, Lynn (2009). Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music 1889-1895. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN   978-1-4968-0004-6.
  6. 1 2 Drag!: Male and Female Impersonators on Stage, Screen and Television: An Illustrated World History
  7. ↑ Pollack, Chana. "Pepi Littman, Yiddish Drag King". Forverts. The Yiddish Forward. Retrieved Jan 17, 2017.
  8. ↑ Waddell, Robert. "Profile: Elizabeth Marrero. This Drag King Is Sinfully Delicious." Puerto Rico Sun (San Juan, PR) April 14, 2007.
  9. ↑ Mustarde, Danielle (19 April 2017). "Talking drag with Lucy Jane Parkinson". Diva. Archived from the original on 26 July 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  10. ↑ Moffatt, Kenneth James (2012). Troubled Masculinities: Reimagining Urban Men. University of Toronto Press. ISBN   9780802098238.
  11. ↑ "10 Photos of 19th and 20th Century Drag Kings That Are Totally Inspiring". 29 January 2016.
  12. ↑ Obejas, Achy (21 April 1995). "Diane Torr Explores the Dynamics of Drag". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  13. ↑ Gillian Rodger, " He Isn't a Marrying Man: Gender and Sexuality in the Repertoire of Male Impersonators, 1870–1930", in Sophie Fuller, Lloyd Whitesell, eds. Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity (Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2002) pp. 109-110.
  14. ↑ "10 Photos of 19th and 20th Century Drag Kings That Are Totally Inspiring". 29 January 2016.
  15. ↑ The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater. San Francisco, California: Cleis Press, Inc. 2004. pp. 123–124. ISBN   9781573441988 . Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "House of Drag winner Hugo Grrrl on his 'life-changing' win". New Zealand Herald. 2018-12-20. Retrieved 2019-02-12.
  17. ↑ Dazed (2017-11-14). "Groundbreaking drag artists who aren't RuPaul". Dazed. Retrieved 2019-08-09.
  18. ↑ Mikelle Street (2019-10-31). "Meet Landon Cider, World's Next Drag Super Monster". Out Magazine. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  19. ↑ Nina Lecourt (2019-03-28). "Drag king Adam All: 'It's the air that I breathe'". Pink News. Retrieved 2021-04-11.
  20. ↑ Tibi, Ariana (25 June 2022). "Politics & Pride: Getting to Know Vico Ortiz". LADYGUNN. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  21. ↑ "Melisa Meseguer, 'drag king': "Atacar a la masculinidad es dar donde más duele. ¡Y es muy divertido!"". El Diario (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  22. ↑ "Nico Elsker". Simia Espacio (in Spanish). Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  23. ↑ "Ken Pollet / Elena Ramírez (Málaga, 1992)". Ajuntament de Barcelona (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  24. ↑ Nolfi, Joey (2021-10-05). "'Call Me Mother casts queens, kings, and nonbinary stars in wild new drag competition'". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2022-09-26.
  25. ↑ Griwkowsky, Fish (2021-10-20). "'OUTtv's Call Me Mother stars local drag queen Felicia Bonée'". Edmonton Journal. Archived from the original on 2022-01-26. Retrieved 2022-03-06.
  26. ↑ "Jarvis Hammer Represents Atlanta in "The Boulet Brothers' Dragula" Season Five". The Georgia Voice. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  27. ↑ "Whitman Sisters (biography)", Library of Congress
  28. ↑ Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America, Volume 1, ISBN   0415938538, pp. 1199–1200
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