Within the past few years, I've noticed that drag has slowly been introduced to the mainstream media. Truthfully, I believe a lot of that has to do with RuPaul and the expanding of his competition reality show, "RuPaul's Drag Race." Thanks to the widespread coverage of the show, the fan base has grown rapidly, creating a sort of niche in music, television, art, and other art forms as well. An example of this is Adore Delano's "Drag Race" queen from season six, from the new album entitled "After Party," which hit number one the week it was released on the Billboard US Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It is the kind of platform that drag queens are getting nowadays that is helping them break into mainstream media.
This rise in fans isn't just for drags queens that have competed on "Drag Race," however. People come from all over to see a drag queen, and they're seen as more than just a fun decoration for a bachelorette party now. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Leigh Shannon, an entertainer that I met when I started working at Hamburger Mary's Orlando, to discuss all things drag and how being a drag queen has helped or hurt her career as a performer.
When did you start doing drag?
Leigh Shannon: I actually started when I was 17 years old back in 1975.
What inspired you to do it?
Leigh Shannon: I wasn't actually inspired. I was gay in the Midwest back in the '70s, my dad was a [Ku Klux] Klan member, and I was thrown out of my house at 17. I ended up homeless and went to a gay bar. I was like fresh meat -- very muscular, handsome, I had a beard -- and they told me to come back for the show. I went backstage and there's these performers that I thought were beautiful, and then they told me they were men. Peaches LaPit was my drag mother -- and was trying to get in my pants -- and she painted me up and shaved off my beard and I went out there. Of course, I still has hair on my chest and muscles, so it was like a joke, but they kept calling for encores and I was working there by the end of the week for a $5 bar tab and I've just been doing it ever since.
Where did your stage name come from?
Leigh Shannon: Drag mothers usually name you, so she [Peaches] named me.
Have you ever competed in the pageant system? Do you have any titles?
Leigh Shannon: Oh, I have a long history. I've been through it all-- I've been through the clubs, I've won over 25 titles in my lifetime with the pageants. I was Miss Midwest USA, Miss South Florida, Miss Mid-Florida, Miss North Florida, I have a lot of titles in the Midwest. But that was for a certain part of my life. I actually started the dinner show at Hamburger Mary's [Orlando]. The only ones that were there at the time were Miss Sammy and Carol Lee. But what's happened in the past five to 10 years is that I've gotten to do film-- I've done three films, I've gotten to produce, you know, just do other things besides drag at the clubs. I really prefer to do mainstream shows. My audience today is mainstream.
Would you say your drag career has helped you as a performer?
Leigh Shannon: I actually think because of when I was born and brought up, if I was born today where the young people are encouraged and protected, that I would have just bypassed drag altogether and went more into my acting and singing and things like that that I was not nourished with at that time. No regrets, I actually believe that if I had it today that I wouldn't have done the drag. The way I consider myself now is an actor, stand-up comic, and then drag queen. That's how I prefer it. And I do believe that drag did help me, of course, and like I said, no regrets, but it is a shame that I wasn't able to blossom when I was twenty.
I saw an article on the wall in your shop that one of the performers in your show in Melbourne actually got to perform with Cher. How was that?
Leigh Shannon: Yeah, his name is Elgin Kenna. He's retired now, but he did Cher in the Celebrity Illusions Revue show. He was the first female impersonator to ever go on tour with a major pop star like that. Cher actually called him from Europe after he had retired and offered to fly him out to be in the video for her song "Believe" and he turned it down.
I know you get very warm welcomes from audiences now, but has it always been like that with your shows?
Leigh Shannon: I've been very fortunate. I can't tell you of a gig that I've had that wasn't like that. I've always been very popular in my shows, even before I became an emcee. But now I'm branching out, I have a show at the Garden Theatre in The Villages that seats 1,000 people per show and I just became an ordained minister. I actually sat down and wrote out a full script for it and didn't do any improv like in my shows and I've found that I love writing comedy.
If you had any advice for anyone just starting out in drag, what would it be?
Leigh Shannon: Find out what you want to do with it first. Make sure you have your goals ahead and do not sell out. I think "RuPaul's Drag Race" is OK, but do not sell out for only that. There are so many opportunities nowadays besides that. You do not have to be a RuPaul drag queen to be big. Make sure you make up your mind and know what you want out of it. Do not let people pressure you into the silicone injections either. The main thing is just find out what you want to do and remember that you can take advice from everybody, but you need to find out what works best for you.
You can catch Leigh Shannon every Saturday night at Hamburger Mary's Orlando, and catch her Celebrity Illusions Revue the first Saturday of every month. You can also shop at her stores, Ritzy Rags Wigs & More and Flei Shannon's Market in Downtown Orlando.
