Kevin Aviance
| Kevin Aviance | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Eric Snead |
| Born | June 22, 1968 |
| Origin | Richmond, Virginia, United States |
| Genres | dance |
| Occupation(s) | female impressionist, Club/Dance musician, fashion designer and nightclub personality |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Website | MySpace.com/KevinAvianceWorld |
Kevin Aviance (born Eric Snead on June 22, 1968 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American drag queen, Club/Dance musician, and fashion designer and nightclub personality. He is a known personality in New York City's gay scene and has performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He is a member of the House of Aviance, a local gay performer's group. He is known for his trademark phrase, "Work. Fierce. Over. Aviance!" He won the 1998 and 1999 Glammy Awards, the award for nightlife personalities in New York City. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked him as the 93rd most successful dance artist of all-time.
Aviance was raised in Richmond, Virginia, in a close-knit family of eight siblings. His father provided for them as a landscape contractor. From an early age, Aviance dedicated himself to the study of music and theatre, his first experience in drag was in the seventh grade. His early influences were "punk, Boy George, Devo, and Grace Jones". He moved to Washington D.C. where he worked as a hairdresser and did drag performances. He developed a bad crack habit but with help of the House of Aviance he was able to overcome it, after his initiation in the house he took the name Kevin Aviance. He later moved to New York City and made a name for himself as a dancer/performer at Sound Factory, a club mainly for queer Latinos and blacks. Major DJs and club promoters saw him performing and started hiring him, he became one of a handful of drag performers in NYC able to support themselves solely on performances. His career as a performance artist and club personality began in Washington, DC, continued in Miami, and eventually landed him in New York City. In 1989, the House of Aviance was founded in Washington by Mother Juan Aviance. In July 1999 Aviance performed as part of Billboard's sixth annual Dance Music Summit.
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