GRANDE DAME

There are drag queens and the queens from drag race...and then there are the rare legendary queens that are pure magic...and that is NYC  legend Joey Arias. 

I have long adored Joey's style, the Avant Garde fashion and performances...and her along with Amanda Lepore, Bunny, Mona Foot  Candis Cayne and L'Homma Van Sant WERE the club scene.   After high school he sang with a rock band which had a 1973 single on Capitol Records, and a stint with improvisational comedy group the Groundlings. In 1976 he and his best friend Kim,  drove across country in a pickup truck and moved to New York City, where he's called home ever since.  Arias eventually got a job at the Fiorucci designer clothing store. He and other store staff famously performed  in the shop windows. While working at the store he became friends with alternative musician Klaus Nomi, singing backup and designing sets and costumes. Nomi and Arias appeared on Saturday Night Live accompanying David Bowie for a live performance of three songs:. While in New York, he also performed with Ann Magnuson in a band called Strange Party which recorded and performed in various night clubs. Upon Nomi's death, Arias became executor to the Klaus Nomi estate. A tribute to his friend is held in Berlin every year, and the documentary film The Nomi Song was released in 2004. A film on the life Arias shared with Nomi was in development in 2010 with Alan Cumming slated play Nomi.Arias, gradually became involved in the burgeoning 1980s New York performance art scene, appearing regularly at Club 57 and other downtown venues. During these years he also began crafting a successful career in cabaret, channeling the vocal style and mannerisms of Billie Holiday. Those shows are downright amazing. Arias has moved with the time too. In addition to his successful cabaret he has also starred for some time in Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity. Even now he has  two weekly shows at Joe's Pub and Feinstein's\ 54 Below. I have been asked we certain queens won't go on drag race. I think Arias would sooner have his nails pulled out then go on the 

show!!!

Joey Arias sings!!! 

Now THIS is real talent children...arise!