Kevin Aviance (born Eric Snead on June 22, 1968) is an American

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 ...

, club/dance musician, fashion designer and nightclub personality. He is a 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, one of the most notable

vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

- ball houses in the U.S.Munoz, 435. 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.Quohnos Mitchell, "Next: On the Verge- Kevin Aviance", page 106, ''Vibe'', October 2000. He has worked with several artists, including Janet Jackson and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed " The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston i ...

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

"Fourth Man Is Arrested After Attack on a Dance Recording Artist in the East Village", By KAREEM FAHIM and SARAH GARLAND (June 12, 2006

/ref> In December 2016, '' Billboard (magazine), Billboard Magazine'' ranked him as the 93rd most successful dance artist of all-time.

Career

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 Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singer ...

, 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. The House of Aviance was founded in 1989 (in Washington, DC) by Mother Juan Aviance.''House of Aviance''
/ref> Kevin is regarded as Mother Juan and the House's "oldest daughter". In 1993, Aviance, who was living in Florida at the time, was asked to move to New York City by Mother Juan. He accepted his House Mother's request and shortly after landed a cameo role in

Madonna's Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

1994 ''

Secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

'' video. In July 1999, Aviance performed as part of Billboard's sixth annual Dance Music Summit. Aviance has appeared in several films, including '' Flawless'' starring Robert De Niro and the independent film ''Punks''. Besides his feature-film work he has made guest appearances on such shows as ''

The Tyra Banks Show ''The Tyra Banks Show'', also known as and shortened to ''Tyra'' or ''The Tyra Show'', was an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks that aired from 2005 to 2010. While Banks's show covered a variety of topics, there was a sensationalized focus ...

'', and ''

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'', also hosted by

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, and worked with artists like Janet Jackson and

. His songs ''Din Da Da'', ''Rhythm Is My Bitch'', ''Alive'', ''Give It Up'' and ''Strut'', have all reached Number 1 of the

Billboard dance chart Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

. The only one of his singles not to peak at Number 1 to date is ''Dance for Love''. Aviance's most successful dance radio hit to date is ''Give It Up'' released in 2004. His second album, ''Entity'' is a more consistent effort than his first.

Hate crime incident

On June 10, 2006, while exiting the Phoenix, a popular gay bar located in the East Village section of Manhattan, Aviance was robbed and beaten by a group of men who yelled anti-gay slurs at him. Four suspects were arrested under New York's

hate-crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

law, but reports say up to seven men were involved in the attack. Aviance was not dressed in his gender-bending performance clothes but as a boy. He had to have his jaw wired for a month. He also suffered a fractured knee and neck injuries as well as blows to the face. Despite suffering a broken jaw, he insisted on appearing in the city's

gay pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events ...

later that month. The four suspects, who ranged between 17 and 21 years old, were charged with gang assault as a hate crime. On March 21, 2007, they pleaded guilty and were sentenced to between six and fifteen years in prison. Without the plea agreement, they had faced up to 25 years. In 2015 Canadian filmmaker Raymond Helkio produced the documentary "WERK. FIERCE. OVAH. Aviance!" which premiered at the 2018 NYC East Village Queer Film Festival.

Recent times

Recently, Aviance appeared on the song ''This is New York City (Bitch!)'' by the

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 ...

rap group La'Mady from the album ''Jonny McGovern Presents: This is NYC, Bitch! The East Village Mixtape''. In 2007, Aviance's song ''Strut'' was featured as the theme song for the documentary series '' Indie Sex''. In April 2008, Aviance staged a comeback to the club scene and entertainment world, and was reunited on stage with

Junior Vasquez Junior Vasquez (born Donald Gregory Mattern, August 24, 1949) is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He has been referred to as one of the only DJs of his time to gain international attention. Career Mattern moved to New York City a ...

, who previously worked together but had become estranged over a professional dispute. At Cielo, a club in New York known for its lighted walls, the tandem performance marked the return to the spotlight for Aviance, performing two of his new hit singles. He most recently recorded a cover of Britney Spears's ''Gimme More'', produced by

Jonny McGovern Jonny McGovern (born July 12, 1976), also known by his character name The Gay Pimp, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician and podcaster. He has recorded three albums as comedic singer The Gay Pimp, appeared as a cast member of Log ...

and Adam Joseph on ''The East Village Mixtape 2: The Legends Ball''. In 2022, Aviance's hit song "Cunty" was sampled for 15 seconds on Beyoncé's seventh studio album ''Renaissance'' for the track "Pure/Honey".

Albums

* ''Box of Chocolates'' (Wave Music) 1999 * ''Entity'' (Centaur) 2004Larry Flick, "The Dive Testifies: Gender Bender Kevin Aviance Talks About Dipping Into Both Dance Music And Gospel", page 62, ''The Advocate'', November 11, 2003.

Singles

* ''Cunty (The Feeling)'' (1996) trictly Rhythm* ''Hold On Me'' ith Tom Stephan & The S-Man* ''Din Da Da'' (1997) * ''Join In The Chant'' (1998)Larry Flick, "Nervous 'Future Progression' A Superlative Showcase", Page 40-1, ''Billboard'', September 12, 1998. * ''Rhythm Is My Bitch'' (1999)Anderson jones, "Freaks and Beats", pages 59-60, ''The Advocate'', April 11, 2000. * ''Dance For Love'' (2000) * ''Alive'' (2002) * ''Give It Up'' (2004) * ''Strut'' (2007) * ''Gimme More (Aviance)'' (2008) ay/Nerd Music* ''Avi'ously Aviance'' (2014) featuring EJ Aviance, Kevin Aviance, Perry Aviance and Mother Juan Aviance; produced by David Ohana Aviance. Released on Aviance Records

Filmography

* ''

Punks Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture ...

'', UrbanWorld (2000) as "Miss Smokie" a club owner, Patrick-Ian Polk, director. * ''Freaks, Glam Gods and Rockstars'', RyanIsland Films (2001), John T. Ryan director. * ''"Naked Fame"'', Regent Here! Films (2005), Christopher Long, director. * ''"WERK. FIERCE. OVAH. Aviance!"'', The Reading Salon, Raymond Helkio, director. * ''"Wig", HBO Films (2019), Chris Moukarbel, director * ''"How Do I Look", Art From The Heart Films (2008), Wolfgang Busch, director

References

Bibliography

* Boyd, Helen, ''She's not the man I married: my life with a transgender husband'', Seal Press, 2007, , . * Lust, Erika, ''Good Porn: A Woman's Guide'', Seal Press, 2010, , . * Munoz, Jose Esteban, "Gesture, Ephemera, and Queer Feeling: Approaching Kevin Aviance" in ''Dancing desires: choreographing sexualities on and off the stage'', edited by Jane Desmond, Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2001, , . * Pezzote, Angelo, ''Straight Acting: Gay Men, Masculinity and Finding True Love'', Kensington Publishing Corp., 2008, , . * Warwick, Neil, Jon Kutner, Tony Brown, ''The complete book of the British charts: singles & albums'', Omnibus Press, 2004, , . * Willis, John, Tom Lynch, Barry Monush, ''Screen World, Volume 53; Volume 2002'', Hal Leonard Corporation, 2003, , . * Willis, John, Barry Monush, ''Screen World Film Annual: Volume 57'', r Hal Leonard Corporation, 2006, , . * Wright, Kai, ''Drifting toward love: black, brown, gay, and coming of age on the streets of New York'', Beacon Press, 2008, , .

External links

Official Myspace Page
*
Kevin Aviance on Wave Music

Kevin Aviance Bio
in House of Aviance official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Aviance, Kevin 1968 births African-American drag queens African-American musicians American fashion designers American house musicians Living people Nightlife in New York City Musicians from Richmond, Virginia American victims of anti-LGBT hate crimes American gay musicians LGBT people from Virginia Violence against gay men House of Aviance 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people