Lina Bradford, professionally known as DJ Lina (previously known as Girlina), is an American disc jockey, dancer, and actress. Bradford was a member of the 1990s New York

Club Kids The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to i ...

scene and first performed as a DJ in 1997. She appeared in films, including '' Wigstock: The Movie'' and ''Woo'', for which she gained wider prominence. She hosts an interview web series titled ''In the Dollhouse with Lina''.

Early life

Bradford was born and raised on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

of Manhattan, across the street from Carnegie Hall, where her grandmother performed as an opera singer. She began professional dance lessons at age 11 and performed in several dance companies. Her family was accepting of her

trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (fil ...

identity from her youth. Bradford is referred to as

, but said in a 2019 interview with ''Out'' that she does not use labels. She stated "I only grew up with the labels that were on my back. I don’t ever like to feel limited with somebody slapping a label on me as a person."

Career

Underground club kid

Bradford was an active member of the gay underground club scene in New York City from the early 1990s (known as a "

club kid The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to ...

"), where she was a dancer and performer known as Girlina. She gained wider prominence when she appeared in the film ''

Wigstock Wigstock was an annual outdoor drag festival that began in 1984 in Manhattan's East Village that took place on Labor Day. Continuing, with a few gaps, until 2005, the festival would traditionally act as the unofficial end to the summer for the ...

'' in 1994 with Candis Cayne, who she has known since youth. She first performed as a DJ in April 1997. She was encouraged by DJs TPRO, Frankie Knuckles, Carlos Pertrus,

Larry Levan Larry Levan (; born Lawrence Philpot, July 20, 1954 – November 8, 1992) was an American DJ best known for his decade-long residency at the New York City night club Paradise Garage, which has been described as the prototype of the modern da ...

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 ...

and Steve Travolta to begin DJing, and spun her first set at the now-closed Club Life. Most of her early DJ sessions took place in the East Village of Manhattan. She also acted in the films ''Always Something Better'' and ''Woo''.

Later work

Bradford began a 10-year residency at Fire Island Pines in 2005, where she spun regular sets for attendees as DJ Lina. She first held the regular session, titled Lina's Lounge, for two years and then hosted a regular set, titled Twirlina, for the succeeding eight years. Bradford DJs at various clubs in New York and has spun in European locales including Paris, Sardinia, and Saint-Tropez. Of her performance style, she noted that she never chooses a playlist in advance and attempts to both cater to the audience and "take

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the g ...

for a ride." She was the subject of ''Linish'' (2019), a short documentary film directed by Manu Rodriguez, which premiered at Phluid Project NYC. Bradford participates in

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

advocacy work. She is a global ambassador for the

Hetrick-Martin Institute The Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI) is a New York City-based non-profit organization devoted to serving the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) youth between the ages of 13 and 24, and their families. It was founde ...

, an organization supporting LGBTQ youth.

Accolades

* The Glammys, Lifetime Achievement Award * 2019 –

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progr ...

, Logo30

References

External links

Official Instagram
* *
In the Dollhouse with Lina
' on YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradford, Lina Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women DJs American female dancers 20th-century American actresses Entertainers from New York City LGBT DJs Transgender musicians Transgender actresses Transgender entertainers LGBT African Americans 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people Club Kids African-American women musicians 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people