Mariah Paris Balenciaga, or simply known as Mariah, is the stage name of Elijah A. Kelly (born February 13, 1981), an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the third season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race'' (2011) and the fifth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' (2020). Since appearing on the show, she has been featured in a number of web series produced by World of Wonder, such as ''Wait, What?'', ''Transformations'', and ''Fashion Photo RuView''. Balenciaga released her first single, "Mug 4 Dayz", on November 19, 2013.

Early life

Kelly was born on February 13, 1982 in

Gainesville, Georgia The city of Gainesville is the county seat of Hall County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 42,296. Because of its large number of poultry processing plants, it is often called the "Poultry Capital of t ...

. She later moved to Atlanta when she was 19, and started doing drag in the

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

scene, becoming a founding member of the House of Balenciaga. She is

biracial Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

Career

Balenciaga was announced as one of thirteen contestants for the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2011. She was eliminated in the sixth episode after losing a lip sync to " Looking for a New Love" by

Jody Watley Jody Vanessa Watley (born January 30, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and artist,USA Today (February 16, 1996), Best Bets: Albums Jody Watley Greatest Hits, "Few singers fired up the disco like Jody Watley who set trends ...

against Delta Work. In 2018, she appeared with other Drag Race alumni for the first mini challenge of season ten. She asked a viewer question to Eureka O'Hara during the season ten finale episode. She appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season eleven of Drag Race. Balenciaga was also a drag professor for the second and third season of RuPaul's Drag U in 2011 and 2012. Outside of ''Drag Race'', she makes guest appearances for the WOWPresents Internet series "''Fashion Photo Ruview''" filling in for either Raja or

Raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

, reviewing looks from ''Drag Race'' alumni. Her first appearance was on June 9, 2016. She also makes recurring appearances on another WOW series, "''Wait, What''?" as the co-host to Kimora Blac, where they answer trivia questions. Her first appearance was in the debut episode. Balenciaga was with other Drag Race alumni for an episode of '' Skin Wars'' in 2015. She was one of the performers for Phi Phi O'Hara's benefit show for the hurricane in Puerto Rico. She was one of the background dancers for Miley Cyrus's 2015 VMA performance. She was a background dancer again, playing as one of the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are a British girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Melanie Brown, also known as Mel B ("Scary Spice"); Melanie Chisholm, or Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"); Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"); Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"); and Vict ...

for Rita Ora on an episode of

Lip Sync Battle ''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and John K ...

in March 2018. She was a backup dancer for Lip Sync Battle again in 2019 for

Nico Tortorella Nico Tortorella (born July 30, 1988) is an American actor and model, known for roles in filmsincluding ''Scream 4'', the Fox crime drama series ''The Following'' (2013–2015), and the TV Land comedy-drama series '' Younger'' (2015–2021). Fro ...

. In August 2019, she was featured in Women's Wear Daily magazine, alongside Kimora Blac, Mayhem Miller, and

Kameron Michaels Dane Young (born July 23, 1986), known professionally as Kameron Michaels, is an American drag performer who came to international attention after competing on the tenth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. Originally from Columbia, Tennessee, sh ...

. In 2020, Balenciaga returned for the fifth season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'', placing 8th overall. Her performance in the first episode was praised for raising awareness of systemic racism and prejudice, made particularly timely in wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, and Balenciaga was even given a shoutout by current guest judge Ricky Martin for her performance. In September 2020, Balenciaga was featured alongside many other black ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' alum in a "Stop The Racism" PSA, speaking out against toxic, racist fans within the ''Drag Race'' community. She was a featured performer during

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

'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 ev ...

Music

Balenciaga released her first single, "Mug 4 Dayz", on November 19, 2013. A remix EP of the song was released on April 11, 2014. Balenciaga appeared in the music video for Pandora Boxx's "Oops I Think I Pooped" on September 24, 2018. She appeared in a music video for Lizzo's song " Juice" on April 17, 2019. She appeared in a music video for pop duo Aly & AJ's song "Star Maps" on June 12, 2019.

Discography

EPs

Singles As Featured Artist

Filmography

Television

Web series

Music videos

References

External links

* *
RuPaul’s DragCon 2016: Meet Mariah Balenciaga
(2016),''The WOW Report'', World of Wonder {{RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 1981 births Living people African-American drag queens American drag queens People from Atlanta People from Gainesville, Georgia

Mariah Paris Balenciaga Mariah Paris Balenciaga, or simply known as Mariah, is the stage name of Elijah A. Kelly (born February 13, 1981), an American drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the third season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' (2011) a ...