Kerri Colby is the stage name of Elyse Alessandra Anderson, an American drag performer most known for competing on season 14 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 ...

'', where she would place ninth overall. Kerri Colby is based in Los Angeles, California, and she is the drag daughter of well-known drag artist

Sasha Colby Sasha Kekauoha (born July 26, 1985), known professionally as Sasha Colby, is an American drag performer and beauty pageant competitor. She is slated to compete on the upcoming fifteenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. She is the "drag mother" of ...

Early life

Anderson was born in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas. She was raised in a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

household. She stated that she has never fit in with those beliefs, and after watching the fifth season of ''

'', she learned about drag. She left home at 15, and she has stated the reasoning for leaving is the toxic environment that her family created for her. She couch-surfed and found friends to take care of her after leaving home. She has stated that many of the people taking care of her were much older, and it led to abusive situations. One day when Kerri was resting at a train station, a stranger recognized her from her posts on both Instagram and online and offered to help. Kerri told them that unless they helped with her homelessness, they could not help. This person then took Kerri in until she was eighteen. Kerri has stated in an interview, " y friend wascompletely my angel... I would not have made it."

Career

She competed on season 14 of ''

''. On episode 4, she landed in the bottom and lip-synced against Alyssa Hunter to Jennifer Lopez's song, "

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

". On episode 8, she landed in the bottom again with Jasmine Kennedie, and lost the lip-sync to "

Un-Break My Heart "Un-Break My Heart" is a song by American singer Toni Braxton for her second studio album, '' Secrets'' (1996). The song was written by Diane Warren and produced by David Foster. It was released as the second single from the album on October 7, 1 ...

" by

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. Braxton has won ...

. She was a featured performer during Jennifer Lopez's performance at the

2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards The 2022 iHeartRadio Music Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on March 22, 2022, and was broadcast live on Fox from 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM EDT. The ceremony was returned to its traditional March schedule after the last two e ...

. In May, her nomination was announced at the 2022 WOWIE Awards as part of RuPaul's DragCon in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in the category Best Viral Moment (The America’s Next Top Meme Award), shared with drag queens Daya Betty and Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté. In 2022, Colby appeared in an advertising campaign for cannabis beverage brand Cann, alongside fellow season 14 contestants

Willow Pill Willow Patterson (born January 22, 1995), known by the stage name Willow Pill, is an American drag performer. She is best known as the winner of season 14 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' in 2022. Early life Patterson was raised in Denver, Colorado a ...

, Jorgeous, and Kornbread, as well as other LGBTQ+ celebrities including

Hayley Kiyoko Hayley Kiyoko Alcroft (born April 3, 1991) is an American singer, dancer and actress. As a child model and actress, she appeared in a variety of films including ''Scooby-Doo!'' film series (2009–2010), '' Lemonade Mouth'' (2011), '' Blue Lagoon ...

and

Gus Kenworthy Augustus Richard "Gus" Kenworthy (born October 1, 1991) is a British-American former freestyle skier, actor, and YouTuber. He competed in slopestyle, halfpipe and big air. Kenworthy won the silver medal in Men's slopestyle at the 2014 Winter Oly ...

. During press for the Cann campaign, Colby shared that she worked at a dispensary before appearing on Drag Race.

Personal life

Kerri Colby is a

trans woman A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and s ...

and is noted for guiding fellow '' Drag Race'' contestant

Kornbread Jeté Kornbread Jeté, also known as Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté or simply Kornbread, is the stage name of Demoria Elise Williams (born January 14, 1992), an American drag queen. She is known for competing on season 14 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' in 2022 ...

with her transition as well. She has also helped inspire Jasmine Kennedie to come out as a trans woman on an episode of '' Untucked'' on season 14 of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Bosco has also cited Kerri Colby as a source of "clarity" in her transition, which she announced after season 14 wrapped filming.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Kerri 1996 births Living people African-American drag queens American drag queens LGBT people from Texas People from Dallas People from Los Angeles RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Transgender women Transgender drag performers