Adèle Anderson (born 14 June 1952) is an English

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

-nominated singer and actress, best known as one third of the cabaret group

Fascinating Aïda Fascinating Aïda is a British comedy singing group and satire, satirical cabaret act founded in March 1983. The line-up consists of founder member Dillie Keane; Adèle Anderson, who joined in 1984; and Liza Pulman, who first joined in 2004. T ...

Career

Anderson has appeared internationally in concerts, in theatrical plays, on the

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

programme ''Gemma Masters''. In addition, sometimes with

Dillie Keane Louise Miriam "Dillie" Keane (born 23 May 1952) is an Olivier Award-nominated actress, singer and comedian. She has been a member of the comedy cabaret trio Fascinating Aïda since its 1983 inception, and has also pursued a solo career. Early ...

, Anderson writes lyrics to most of

's songs and has contributed to the songs of several hit musicals, including ''The Challenge'' (Shaw Theatre) and ''The Ten Commandments'' (The Place).

Fascinating Aïda

Anderson joined Fascinating Aïda in 1984, a year after its inception, and has performed with them ever since. In 2014 they recorded the show ''Charm Offensive'' which they toured nationwide.

Credits

Theatre

*The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Landor Theatre) *Follies (Landor Theatre) *Into the Woods (Derby Playhouse and The Forum, Wythenshawe) *Achilles in Heels (Landor Theatre) *When Florence Met Isadora (Rosemary Branch) *Eminent Victorians and The Art of Love (Battersea Barge) *Let's Kick Arts (The Bridewell) *Ken Hill's Phantom of the Opera (National Tour) *Die Fledermaus (European Chamber Opera Tour) *Wasp (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Salad Days (National Tour) *Plan 9 from Outer Space – The Musical (National Tour) *Sunset Boulevard (

Sydmonton Festival The Sydmonton Festival is a summer arts festival presented in a deconsecrated 16th century chapel on the grounds of Sydmonton Court, the country estate of Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is in Hampshire, located approximately 85 kilometres southwest of Lo ...

) *Nine (Royal Festival Hall) *House of Obsession (Half Moon) *Girls who wear glasses (National Tour) *Tales my Lover Told Me (King's Head). *

Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens ''Elegies For Angels, Punks and Raging Queens'' is a musical with music by Janet Hood and lyrics and book by Bill Russell. The work features songs and monologues inspired by the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and Edgar Lee Masters' ''Spoon River ...

(Rebel Theatre) *She has appeared in five pantomimes around the country and directed two at The Theatre,

Chipping Norton Chipping Norton is a market town and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Banbury and north-west of Oxford. The 2011 Census recorded the civil parish population as ...

. She also directed ''Kaye's the Word'', Paul Hull's tribute to

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...

, which played the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

and the

New End Theatre The New End Theatre, Hampstead, was an 80-seat fringe theatre venue in London, at 27 New End in the London Borough of Camden which operated from 1974 until 2011. It was founded in 1974 by Buddy Dalton in the converted mortuary of the now-defunc ...

. She and Warren Wills have performed jazz/cabaret together at

Pizza on the Park Pizza (, ) is a Dish (food), dish of Italian cuisine, Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of Leavening agent, leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various ...

and the Langham Hilton and also played the Hong Kong Fringe Festival. * Closer to Heaven ( Above the Stag Theatre).

Writing

*Fascinating Aïda lyrics *Co-writer of Dillie Keane's three solo shows: ''Single Again'', ''Citizen Keane'' and ''Back With You''. *Song "The English Lesson" (with

) for The Shakespeare Revue (Vaudeville Theatre and World Tour). *As a member of the Mercury Workshop she wrote (with Sarah Travis) a section of the collaborative musical ''The Challenge'' (Shaw Theatre). *Ninth Commandment for the Mercury Workshop's production of ''The Ten Commandments'' (The Place) (with Warren Wills). *Debut solo album: ''Why Try to Change Me Now?'', original songs by herself (with Sarah Travis)

Film, television & radio

*'' Lady Jane'' (directed by Trevor Nunn) *''

Company Business ''Company Business'' is a 1991 action film, written and directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The film follows the exploits of Sam Boyd ( Gene Hackman), a former operative for the CIA who is reactivated ...

'', in which she serenaded Gene Hackman and Mikhail Baryshnikov. *Dr Tockley in '' Hotel Babylon'' (BBC1) *Gemma Masters in ''Fish'' (BBC1) *Cecily Watkins in ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the ...

'' (BBC1) *The Whingeing ''Pom'' (LWT) *''Plutopia'' (Radio 4) *Anderson was also a consultant (and made a cameo appearance) for the film '' Different for Girls'', starring

Steven Mackintosh Steven Mackintosh (born 30 April 1967) is an English actor and narrator. He is perhaps best known for his role as Andreas Tanis in the action horror films '' Underworld: Evolution'' (2006) and '' Underworld: Rise of the Lycans'' (2009). Mack ...

and

Miriam Margolyes Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tora ...

. *Candace in ''

The Romanoffs ''The Romanoffs'' is an American anthology drama streaming television series created, written, produced, and directed by Matthew Weiner. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video October 12, 2018 and features an ensemble cast that differs from episode to ...

'' (Amazon Video)

Personal life

Anderson is a

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

woman. She had

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...

after graduating from university as part of her medical transition. She completed her social transition some time before speaking publicly about being transgender. She is a patron of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious be ...

(formerly known as the British Humanist Association). She later became a

humanist celebrant A humanist celebrant or humanist officiant is a person who performs humanist celebrancy services, such as non-religious weddings, funerals, child namings, coming of age ceremonies and other rituals. Some humanist celebrants are accredited by huma ...

for Humanists UK, specialising in non-religious weddings. On 15 September 2010, Anderson, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', stating their opposition to

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

's state visit to the UK.

References

External links

*
Adele & Fascinating Aïda at Gavin Barker Associates (agent)Fascinating Aïda Official Website
* *
Anderson's Official MySpaceArticle with the ''Los Angeles Times'' about "Different for Girls"British Humanist Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Adele Cabaret singers English humanists English stage actresses Transgender women musicians Living people 1952 births English women comedians Transgender actresses English LGBT singers 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians 20th-century English women singers 20th-century English people 21st-century English women singers 21st-century LGBT people Transgender singers