International Drag Day: The 5 most important drag artists of all time, as chosen by PinkNews readers
Most-loved drag queens as voted by PinkNews readers included (from left to right) Lily Savage, RuPaul and Sasha Velour. (Chelsea Guglielmino/WireImage)John Phillips/ TV Times/ Getty Images)
As we mark International Drag Day on Tuesday (16 July), PinkNews readers have revealed the five most important drag artists to them
Founded by Adam Stewart in 2009 through Facebook, International Drag Day is a global event that marks all things drag around the world and aims to raise awareness.
Lily Savage
Top of the lot was Lily Savage, the drag alter ego of Paul O’Grady who died at the age of 67 in March last year.
Lily’s domination of the London drag scene began in the 1970s and extended all the way to the early 2000s. She secured national fame fronting several mainstream comedy specials, as well as madcap game show Blankety Blank.
Over the course of many years, Lily was the host at London’s iconic LGBTQ+ venue the Royal Vauxhall Tavern and is remembered for her quick wit and hilarious foul-mouthed rants.
RuPaul
Sashying close behind Savage was RuPaul, best-known, of course, as the host of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The star, whose name is RuPaul Andre Charles out of drag, was born and raised in San Diego, California, and in 2018 became first drag artist to be recognised with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Not only is RuPaul a force to be reckoned with in the drag world, but she also a killer voice and has released a number of studio albums, including Foxy Lady, Champion, Glamazon and Born Naked.
Mama Ru is also an actor, model and author.
Marsha P Johnson
Trans activist Marsha P Johnson was instrumental in the 1969 Stonewall riots which kick-started the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the US.
The self-identified drag queen started expressing her gender by wearing dresses when she was just five-years-old, but quickly stopped after boys in her neighbourhood started harassing her. It would be years before she felt comfortable enough to express her gender identity publicly again.
Johnson became involved with the drag performance group Hot Peaches in 1972. One of her last performances with the group came in 1990, when she appeared in The Heat while wearing an ACT UP t-shirt.
Her body was found floating in the Hudson River, in New York, in 1992.
Divine
Born Harris Glenn Milstead on October 19, 1945, Divine, who Milstead used he/him pronouns for, was dubbed the “Drag Queen of the Century” by People magazine, establishing himself as an icon on the drag scene.
The Charm City queen was even the muse of film director John Waters who described him as “the most beautiful woman in the world, almost”.
His friendship with Waters saw him make an appearance in 1988 film Hairspray. Divine also made a breakthrough in the world of animation, with the release of one of Disney’s most iconic movies: The Little Mermaid. According to research into the making of Ursula by the publication Hazlitt, everyone agreed that the villain looked like Divine.
Waters and Divine worked together many times before the drag queen’s death in 1988. He died in his sleep, at age 42, of heart failure.
Sasha Velour
RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Sasha Velour was mentioned more than a few times by readers.
She recently spoke to PinkNews about it was like to film the fourth season of We’re Here, the HBO show that follows drag stars as they seek to understand what life is like for LGBTQ+ people in small towns where anti-queer sentiment is rife.
The bald drag queen is known for her high-concept, theatrical performances, with avant-garde looks that resulted her being named drag royalty at the Queerty Awards in 2020.
Other drag artists to be nominated in celebration of International Drag Day include Rose Garden, and Danny LaRue, a cabaret entertainer best known for impersonating the likes of Marlene Dietrich and Margaret Thatcher. He spent more than 60 years on stage and died at the age of 81 in 2009.
