John Sex
| John Sex | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John McLaughlin |
| Born |
April 8, 1956 Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 24, 1990 (aged 34) |
| Genres | Electronic, synthpop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, performance artist |
| Labels | Sire Records, Dream Records, Varla Records |
John McLaughlin (April 8, 1956 – October 24, 1990), better known by the stage name John Sex, was an American cabaret singer and performance artist in New York City from the late 1970s until his death in late 1990.
He was born on Long Island as John McLaughlin. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he knew Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He often used the print studio there to create punk-style posters for downtown bands, and later for himself. He exhibited some of his word-based art at the "Beyond Words" show at the Mudd Club (alongside artists such as Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, and Futura 2000; and performers Iggy Pop, Fab Five Freddy and Alan Vega), and at the "New York / New Wave" exhibition at P.S.1, both in 1981. He soon met Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias in the downtown New York scene and gave up painting, finding he could better express himself in performance.
Early in his career, McLaughlin adopted the stage name "John Sex". He claimed the surname "Sex" was an Americanization of his family's original name, Sexton, but in fact it was created for him by fellow performers Joey Arias and Klaus Nomi "during a period of rampant promiscuity" (Hagar).
After early work as a gay stripper, Sex became an alternative performance artist, creating a character based on an exaggerated, cheesy Las Vegas lounge singer and MC. First, along with other SVA graduates and students and Club 57 "Sex developed a persona that simultaneously masked and amplified his polymorphous self, elaborating a mythic yet parodic rock-star figure of mercurial presence" (Frank & McKentie, 1987). His "Acts of Live Art" series there brought performance art into the club context. He was able to further refine the combination of performance art, drag act, gay go-go dancer, cabaret singer, lounge MC, etc. as a performance art dancer who performed at such legendary New York clubs as Club 57, the Pyramid Club, Danceteria, The Palladium, Paradise Garage and Andy Warhol's Underground. His famous backup singers, The Bodacious TaTa's were often mistaken for drag queens but always consisted of female singers and dancers including Micki French, Wendy Wild, April Palmieri and Myra Schiller. His costumes were designed by Katy K, who occasionally sat in with the TaTa's.
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