21st Century Trans Rock
Venus De Mars, glam rocker.
In the late 1990s Aleisha Michelle Emerson wrote three articles for TGForum that covered the inclusion of transgender elements in popular music from the ‘50s to the late 1990s. We recently featured those articles as Retro Reruns from our Archives. From Little Richard’s eyeliner and pompadour to the lyrics of Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wildside, and David Bowie’s glam rock Ziggy Stardust image, crossing gender borders has been a tool used by many artists to get attention. Some rockers exploited the clash of heavy metal music with an image that featured big hair, earrings, feminine makeup and skin tight clothing. Is this a rock band or a fashion shoot?
Other musical artists incorporated their transgender nature into their image and their art. In the early days they would say, if asked, that it was a marketing ploy or an intellectual exploration of gender roles. As transgender people became more visible and more accepted it started to become okay for a musician to come out as trans.
As we entered the 21st century we had bands and vocalists left over from the previous decades who had paved the way for newer bands that were far more open about their gender status.
Founded in the 1990s All The Pretty Horses featured vocalist and lead guitarist Venus DeMars, who was the subject of Venus of Mars, a 2002 documentary by director Emily Goldberg. All The Pretty Horses is active today gigging mostly in the midwest. Venus De Mars performs solo as well and performed at TEDxMinneapolis 2017.
The band Antony & The Johnsons formed in the late 1990s and released their first album in 2000. Singer Antony came out as transgender and publicly changed her name to Anohni in 2015 but she had been using that name in her private life for many years.
Also from the tour lineup of Antony & The Johnsons was singer Nomi Ruiz. She had released her debut album Lost in Lust on her own independent label Park Side Records. The album offered a song-oriented downbeat electronic feel set in the grittier ends of early-’90s hip-hop and R&B production. She then toured with Blondie, Coco Rosie, and Antony and the Johnsons. In 2008 she was a member of Hercules and Love Affair. After her time with that band she moved on to form the band Jessica 6 and they released their debut single Fun Girl on May 21, 2009. Ruiz has also moved in to acting and has appeared on Mayans M.C. on FX and the Muay Thai boxing feature film drama Haymaker.
German born trans singer/songwriter Kim Petras had to fight to get her gender confirmation surgery in 2008 and while she had made some good noise with her first albums released on her own label, her transition at the age of 16 drew international attention to herself and her music. Petras advocates for transgender rights but at the same time does not want to be known as “the transgender singer.”
There are many more transgender people making music around the world. Far too many to cover in this column. But, stay tuned.
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Category: Music
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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