Lady Bunny
Encyclopedia
The Lady Bunny is an American
drag queen
originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee
, who has lived in New York
since the 1980s. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock
event and is well-known as a nightclub
DJ
, promoter
and celebrity
. She has also released disco
singles such as "Shame, Shame, Shame!" and "The Pussycat Song." She has appeared in films such as Wigstock: The Movie
, Peoria Babylon
, Starrbooty
, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
. Lady Bunny also often works for magazines to use humor for the "Worst Dressed".
and RuPaul
as a fixture on the Atlanta, Georgia
gay scene and appeared in a variety of low budget films with them, including the Starbooty series. Moving to New York City
in 1984, Lady Bunny organized Wigstock
in 1985, an annual drag queen festival that lasted until 2005.
to a compilation of karaoke versions of popular songs over which she has recorded her own vocals singing parodies of the original lyrics. The new lyrics are usually sexually explicit or revolve around food, or both. For instance, her parody of the Gwen Stefani
song Hollaback Girl
has the lyric "I shit a banana/a banana in my ass!"
At certain times, Lady Bunny has released video parodies of "Santa Claus is coming to town" and California Gurls titled West Virginia Girls. Her January, 2011, parody of Harper Valley PTA
, entitled "The Ballad of Sarah Palin
", lampooned the American politician as portrayed by Palin imitator Dorothy Bishop
.
Lady Bunny is also a DJ. Having DJ'ed in various venues, Bunny has expressed sadness at the fact that music tastes have now boiled down to
roast of Pamela Anderson
and released her first DVD, Rated X for X-tra Retarded.
RuPaul asked Lady Bunny to be a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race
. Bunny declined it but took interest in the spin-off series,RuPaul's Drag U
. Currently, Lady Bunny serves on the judges panel on RuPaul's Drag U
, The weekly television series on the Logo TV network airs in summer. Lady Bunny is Dean of Drag and had a role of judge in the first season. In season 2 of RuPaul's Drag U
, the Dean of Drag role was expanded into a segment called Lady Lessons.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
, who has lived in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
since the 1980s. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock
Wigstock
Wigstock was an annual outdoor drag festival that began in the 1980s in New York's East Village that took place on Labor Day. Traditionally the festival would act as the unofficial end to the summer for the gay community of New York City...
event and is well-known as a nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, promoter
Promoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
and celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
. She has also released disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
singles such as "Shame, Shame, Shame!" and "The Pussycat Song." She has appeared in films such as Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie is a 1995 documentary film focusing on Wigstock, the annual drag music festival that had been held New York City's East Village through the 1980s and 1990s. The film presents a number of performances from the 1994 festival, including Crystal Waters, Deee-Lite, Jackie Beat,...
, Peoria Babylon
Peoria Babylon
Peoria Babylon is a 1997 comedy-genre film. It premiered at the Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival in November 1997.-Plot:Candy and her gay friend Jon are owners of financially troubled art gallery in Peoria, Illinois...
, Starrbooty
Starrbooty
Starrbooty is a low-budget film written by and starring drag queen RuPaul. The movie is the fourth in a series of films starring the title character, a top secret government agent and supermodel...
, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is a 1995 American comedy film, starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York drag queens who embark on a road trip...
. Lady Bunny also often works for magazines to use humor for the "Worst Dressed".
Career
Lady Bunny began her career alongside Larry TeeLarry Tee
Larry Tee is a New York City-based DJ, club promoter, and music producer who coined the musical genre term Electroclash and helped launch the careers of such artists as RuPaul, Scissor Sisters, Fischerspooner, Peaches, W.I.T., and Avenue D, and has collaborated with Amanda Lepore and Princess...
and RuPaul
RuPaul
RuPaul Andre Charles , best known as simply RuPaul, is an American actor, drag queen, model, author, and singer-songwriter, who first became widely known in the 1990s when he appeared in a wide variety of television programs, films, and musical albums. Previously, he was a fixture on the Atlanta...
as a fixture on the Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
gay scene and appeared in a variety of low budget films with them, including the Starbooty series. Moving to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1984, Lady Bunny organized Wigstock
Wigstock
Wigstock was an annual outdoor drag festival that began in the 1980s in New York's East Village that took place on Labor Day. Traditionally the festival would act as the unofficial end to the summer for the gay community of New York City...
in 1985, an annual drag queen festival that lasted until 2005.
Music
Her style of drag performance usually involves lip-synchingLip sync
Lip sync, lip-sync, lip-synch is a technical term for matching lip movements with sung or spoken vocals...
to a compilation of karaoke versions of popular songs over which she has recorded her own vocals singing parodies of the original lyrics. The new lyrics are usually sexually explicit or revolve around food, or both. For instance, her parody of the Gwen Stefani
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock and ska band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was inspired by music of the 1980s, and was a success with sales of over...
song Hollaback Girl
Hollaback Girl
"Hollaback Girl" is a song by American recording artist Gwen Stefani from her debut solo album, Love. Angel. Music. Baby. . As part of Stefani's vision of creating "a silly dance record", the song is influenced by 1980s dance and pop music...
has the lyric "I shit a banana/a banana in my ass!"
At certain times, Lady Bunny has released video parodies of "Santa Claus is coming to town" and California Gurls titled West Virginia Girls. Her January, 2011, parody of Harper Valley PTA
Harper Valley PTA
"Harper Valley PTA" is a country song written by Tom T. Hall that was a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley in 1968. Riley's record sold over six million copies as a single. The song made Riley the first woman to top both Billboard's Hot 100 and the U.S...
, entitled "The Ballad of Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
", lampooned the American politician as portrayed by Palin imitator Dorothy Bishop
Dorothy Bishop
Dorothy Bishop is a variety entertainer, singer and comedienne from New York City who is best known for her musical parodies of Sarah Palin. She was born in Atlanta, U.S., and graduated from the Yale School of Music....
.
Lady Bunny is also a DJ. Having DJ'ed in various venues, Bunny has expressed sadness at the fact that music tastes have now boiled down to
Television
In 2005, she was a roaster on the Comedy CentralComedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
roast of Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson
Pamela Denise Anderson is a Canadian-American actress, model, producer, author, activist, and former showgirl, known for her roles on the television series Home Improvement, Baywatch, and V.I.P. She was chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in February 1990...
and released her first DVD, Rated X for X-tra Retarded.
RuPaul asked Lady Bunny to be a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays host, mentor and inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."...
. Bunny declined it but took interest in the spin-off series,RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U is an American reality television series. Hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors," Drag U is a spin-off of the series RuPaul's Drag Race...
. Currently, Lady Bunny serves on the judges panel on RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U is an American reality television series. Hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors," Drag U is a spin-off of the series RuPaul's Drag Race...
, The weekly television series on the Logo TV network airs in summer. Lady Bunny is Dean of Drag and had a role of judge in the first season. In season 2 of RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U
RuPaul's Drag U is an American reality television series. Hosted by RuPaul and a team of drag queen "professors," Drag U is a spin-off of the series RuPaul's Drag Race...
, the Dean of Drag role was expanded into a segment called Lady Lessons.
Awards and nominations
- 2009 GayVN AwardsGayVN AwardsThe GAYVN Awards are presented annually to honor work done in the gay pornography industry. The awards are sponsored by AVN Magazine, the parent publication of GAYVN Magazine, and continue the recognition for gay pornography which was part of the AVN Awards from 1986–1998.The award recipients...
winner of Best Non-Sex Performance in "Brothers' Reunion" (Lucas EntertainmentLucas EntertainmentLucas Entertainment is a New York-based gay pornographic studio started by porn star Michael Lucas. It is one of the largest such studios in the world. The studio is known for lavish, big-budget movies, and it contends that its 2006 film Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita is the most expensive gay porn...
). - 2009 AmfARAmfARamfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.-History:...
's Honoring with Pride Honoree