Lady Bunny
Lady Bunny | |
|---|---|
 Lady Bunny at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jon Ingle |
| Born | August 14, 1962 |
| Origin | Chattanooga, Tennessee |
| Genres | Dance-pop Hi-NRG Disco House R&B Euro-Dance Electro |
| Occupation(s) | Drag performer Actor |
| Years active | 1980s–present |
| Website | LadyBunny.net |
Lady Bunny (born Jon Ingle, August 14, 1962)[1] is an American drag queen, nightclub DJ, promoter and founder of the annual Wigstock event. She has also released disco singles such as "Shame, Shame, Shame!" and "The Pussycat Song". She has appeared in films such as Party Girl, Wigstock: The Movie, Peoria Babylon, Starrbooty, and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.
Career
Lady Bunny began her career alongside Larry Tee and RuPaul as a fixture on the Atlanta gay scene[2] 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[3] in 1985, an annual drag queen festival that lasted until 2005. Bunny frequently performs at XL Nightclub with Bianca Del Rio.
Bunny was featured in the web series Queens of Drag: NYC by gay.com in 2010. The series featured fellow New York drag queens Bianca Del Rio, Dallas DuBois, Hedda Lettuce, Mimi Imfurst, Peppermint, and Sherry Vine.
Music
Her style of drag performance usually involves lip-synching 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!" 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. On July 1, 2013, Lybra Records[4] released remixes of Lady Bunny's collaboration with Wayne Numan,[5] "Take Me Up High"[6] which became her first Billboard Club/Dance hit peaking at #17 in September 2013. In October 2014 she released "Lately" (Remixes) her collaboration with New York City Producers and club DJ's Sean Grasty and DJ Rikky Rivera better known as Groove Addix. Lady Bunny's vocal of "Lately" is already creating a buzz globally in the underground club scene (pre-release) with explicit lyrics "Pussy this good/Dont wait around for no man-Pussy this good/Dont wait for no nobody." "Lately" is being released on the UK House label Enriched Records which is owned by Rich B a well known Dj/Artist on London's gay club scene.[7]
Television
In 2005, she was a roaster on the Comedy Central roast of Pamela Anderson[8] and released her first DVD, Rated X for X-tra Retarded.[9]
RuPaul asked Lady Bunny to be a judge on RuPaul's Drag Race. Bunny declined this but served on the judges panel on the spinoff show RuPaul's Drag U, which aired on the Logo TV network from 2010 to 2012. Lady Bunny was 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. During the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, contestant Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 impersonated Bunny for the Snatch Game.[10]
In 2003, Lady Bunny made a guest appearance in the Sex and the City episode "Boy, Interrupted", as the emcee at the LGBT prom.[11]
Awards and nominations
- 2009 GayVN Awards winner of Best Non-Sex Performance in "Brothers' Reunion" (Lucas Entertainment).[12][13]
- 2009 AmfAR's Honoring with Pride Honoree [14][15]
References
- ^ Wadler, Joyce. The Lady Bunny at the forefront of Wigstock Flamboyant? Certainly, From Head to Heels, New York Times. accessed April 24, 2006.
- ^ The Tramp is a Lady - Southern Voice
- ^ http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/events/doc/pyramidirisrose.pdf
- ^ "Home - Lybra Records". lybrarecords.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
- ^ http://www.sgn.org/sgnnews41_24/page22.cfm
- ^ http://www.discogs.com/Lady-Bunny-Take-Me-Up-High-Remixes/release/4767742
- ^ "Chart Highlights: Enrique Iglesias' 'Night' Dawns On Pop Songs". Billboard. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
- ^ Heffernan, Virginia (August 13, 2005). "Roasters of 'Stacked' Star Romp High to Low". The New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
- ^ Musto, Michael (December 6, 2005). "La Dolce Musto". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 27, 2007.
- ^ Hoff, Al (February 26, 2013). "RuPaul's Drag Race Alaska Watch". Pittsburgh City Paper. Retrieved April 20, 2013.
- ^ TheArizonian2014 (September 7, 2013). ""Sex and the City" Boy, Interrupted (TV Episode 2003)". IMDb. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "2009 GayVN Winners". RAD Video.
- ^ "Raging Stallion Sweeps the GAYVN Awards: Full list of winners". AVN.
- ^ "amfAR :: Lady Bunny :: The Foundation for AIDS Research :: HIV / AIDS Research". amfar.org. Retrieved February 27, 2015.
- ^ Michael Musto (June 15, 2009). "Talk Show Host Thrown Out of Gay Bar!". villagevoice.com. Retrieved February 27, 2015.