Joseph Lewis Black (born 23 December 1989) is a British musician and

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 of ...

from Brighton, England. He is best known for competing on the second series of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' and getting eliminated first and fifth, after being voted back on to the show in episode five.

Career

Black has fulfilled his career as a drag queen since 2008, and has become one of the leading figures in the dark

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

genre of drag. He regularly performs in Brighton (in which he resides) and often performs at the annual

Brighton Fringe Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 ve ...

festival. Black has cited his love of music as one of the main reasons he's kept on pursuing his career, he often plays the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

, accordion, musical saw,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

at his performances. Black has toured extensively across the UK, Europe, Australia and America for more than a decade. This included a UK tour with

season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

contestant of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'',

Sasha Velour Alexander "Sasha" Hedges Steinberg (born June 25, 1987), known professionally as Sasha Velour, is an American drag queen, artist, actor, and stage and television producer, based in Brooklyn, New York. Velour is known for winning the ninth seaso ...

. In December 2020, Black was announced as one of twelve contestants competing on the second series of ''

''. Black was the first contestant eliminated in a lip sync challenge against contestant Bimini Bon-Boulash to the song "

Relax Relax may refer to: Aviation * Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class Music Albums * ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003 * ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011 Songs * "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...

" by

Frankie Goes to Hollywood Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English synth-pop band formed in Liverpool in 1980. The group's best-known line-up comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (singer), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Peter Gill (FGTH drummer), Peter ...

. However, Black returned in episode five when the previously eliminated queens return (excluding Ginny Lemon) and won his spot back in the competition after the contestants voted to bring him back. Black was again eliminated following a lip sync challenge against contestant Tia Kofi to the song "

Don't Leave Me This Way "Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Cary Gilbert. It was originally released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act signed to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia Internat ...

" by

The Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. The duo consisted of Jimmy Somerville and Richard Coles. They are most famous for their cover versions of " Don't Leave Me This Way", originally by Harold Melvin & the Bl ...

. He is the first contestant to return after being eliminated on ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. Since his elimination, Black has announced a UK Tour titled ''Decopunk'' planned for September 2021, as well as the release of a 40% ABV limited edition gin of the same name. In February 2022, Black will embark on ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK: The Official Tour'' alongside the entire cast of the second series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'', in association with World of Wonder and promoter Voss Events.

Personal life

Black has spoken openly about having and living with

Tourette's Syndrome Tourette syndrome or Tourette's syndrome (abbreviated as TS or Tourette's) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) ...

, on multiple occasions.

Filmography

Television

Music videos

Discography

As featured artist

Stage

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Joe 1989 births Living people 21st-century British LGBT people British cabaret performers Dark cabaret musicians English drag queens Gay entertainers LGBT cabaret performers Musicians from Brighton and Hove Musicians from Portsmouth People with Tourette syndrome RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestants