Christer Lindarw (born 3 March 1953) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

clothes designer, actor,

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

entertainer, and the leader of drag group '' After Dark''.

Career

Lindarw was born in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna has ...

Södermanland County Södermanland County ( sv, Södermanlands län) is a county or '' län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is t ...

. He was educated at Beckmans designhögskola in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. His 1976 stage debut was as ''Zsa Zsa Shakespeer'' in ''

Wild Side Story ''Wild Side Story'' is a parody musical that originated in 1973 as a drag show on the gay scene of Miami Beach, soon developed there into an underground happening for mixed audiences, and up until 2004 was performed hundreds of times in Florida, ...

'' at

Alexandra Charles Alexandra Charles (born 12 November 1946, née Thyra Margareta Inga-Lill Gefvert) is a Swedish former nightclub owner. With her first husband Noël Charles (1940–2013) she opened a membership restaurant-discothèque called ''Alexandra's'' in ce ...

's club, and he staged his first major production at Hamburger Börs in 1980 together with Roger Jönsson and Lars Flinckman, Lindarw's future co-star of many years from stage shows with their group After Dark. After Dark participated in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

with the song ''La dolce vita'' and placed third in the final in Globen. Lindarws interest for dragshowing started after an masquerade where the theme was reversed gender roles. On Jönsson's recommendation he had started to appear in drag in 1976. Lindarw hosted shows at the nightclub Shazam for a few months and then started the dragshow group After Dark and opened his own nightclub with the same name at David Bagares gata in Stockholm. The group had its big breakthrough called ''Förför Sverige i tiden'' at Hamburger Börs. Christer Lindarw also started designing dresses for his friend

Lill Lindfors Maj Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors (born 12 May 1940) is a Swedish singer who has performed in Scandinavia since the 1960s. Career She was born in Helsinki, Finland, and made her debut as a revue actress in Uddevalla in 1960. The following year she ...

, one being the dress that accidentally "fell off" her during her introduction at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1985 The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys. Organised by the European ...

. In 2017, Lindarw performed the surprise finale number, imitating Queen

Silvia of Sweden Silvia () is a female given name of Latin origin, with a male equivalent Silvio and English-language cognate Sylvia. The name originates from the Latin word for forest, ''Silva'', and its meaning is "spirit of the wood"; the mythological god of t ...

, during the annual televised show in

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

for

Crown Princess Victoria Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland (Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée; born 14 July 1977) is the heir apparent to the Swedish throne, as the eldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf. If she ascends to the throne as expect ...

's 40th birthday. In the fall of 2016

Bonniers Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denm ...

had published a lauded book about his life. Simultaneously, Lindarw began another media-praised show tour around Sweden, with him alone leading his cast; all sold out, it wrapped up a year later at

Oscarsteatern Oscarsteatern (English: Oscar Theatre), also known simply as Oscars, is one of Stockholm's private theatres and is the best-known musical theatre in Sweden. It is located at Kungsgatan 63 in central Stockholm. History The theater was designed ...

in Stockholm, also ending the four decades of successful performances of ''After Dark''. Outside Sweden Christer Lindarw is known mainly for performances in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and for clothes he has designed for international celebrities such as

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Family

His father was the international speedway rider

Bert Lindarw Bert Lindarw (1930–2020) was an international speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Lindarw was twice a finalist at the Individual Speedway Long Track World Championship in 1957 and 1961. He won a silver medal (1953) and one bronze med ...

Bibliography

References

External links

Lindarw.net

After Dark - La dolce vitawww.afterdark.nu - After Dark's history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindarw, Christer 1953 births Living people Melodifestivalen contestants Sommar (radio program) hosts Swedish drag queens Swedish entertainers 21st-century LGBT people