Michelle Ross was the stage name of Earl Barrington Shaw (August 5, 1954 – March 27, 2021), a

Jamaican Canadian Jamaican Canadians are Canadian citizens of Jamaican descent or Jamaican-born permanent residents of Canada. The population, according to Canada's 2016 Census, is 309,485. Jamaican Canadians comprise about 30% of the entire Black Canadian popul ...

drag queen who was active from 1974 until her death in 2021."A Toronto drag queen who 'wowed audiences' has died and people are paying tribute"

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

Toronto, March 29, 2021. She was considered one of the key icons of the LGBTQ community in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, especially for

Black Canadian Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though t ...

members of the community.

Career

She performed in drag for the first time at Toronto's Club Manatee in 1974, to

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

's " Anyone Who Had a Heart".Elio Iannacci
"Long live the queens: How drag culture went mainstream"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', June 24, 2018. In Toronto, she was a regular performer at bars in the

Church and Wellesley Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

gay village, and a frequent performer at

Pride Toronto Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June each year. A celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, it is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, fea ...

's Blockorama parties. She also performed internationally, including a six-year stint as part of the cast of a touring production of '' La Cage aux Folles''.Kevin Ritchie
"Toronto mourns drag queen Michelle Ross"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', March 29, 2021. She had small acting roles in the 1977 film ''

Outrageous! ''Outrageous!'' is a 1977 Canadian comedy drama film written and directed by Richard Benner. The film stars Craig Russell as female impersonator Robin Turner, and Hollis McLaren as Turner's schizophrenic roommate Liza Conners. The plot begins i ...

'', and the 2014 film ''Seek'',Jonathan Vallely
"Hide and seek: New gay film shines light on Toronto's gay village and its dwellers"
''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

'', January 27, 2014. and appeared in the documentary films ''Divas: Love Me Forever''Brian Bradley
"Toronto drag queen Michelle Ross exuded the glamorous life onstage and off"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', March 30, 2020. and ''Our Dance of Revolution''.

Amanda Parris Amanda Parris is a Canadian broadcaster and writer. An arts reporter and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she hosts the CBC Television series '' Exhibitionists'', '' The Filmmakers'' and '' From the Vaults'', and the CBC Mus ...

"Our Dance of Revolution: This new film builds a timeline of Black queer activism in Toronto"

CBC Arts CBC Arts (french: Radio-Canada Arts) is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that creates and curates written articles, short documentaries, non-fiction series and interactive projects that represent the excellence of Canada's div ...

, June 7, 2019. Throughout her career, she was known for performing to the music of disco and soul music divas such as

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Gaynor ( née Fowles; born September 7, 1943) is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), " Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), " I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" ( ...

and

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Kn ...

, but was most famous for her performances of

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

songs. As of 2018, she had performed on stage at least 15,000 times. Dancer and choreographer

Hollywood Jade Jade Anderson (born January 4, 1984), known professionally as Hollywood Jade, is a Canadian dancer and choreographer best known for his regular appearances on the reality television series ''Canada's Drag Race''. He began his career as a choreog ...

got his start choreographing numbers for Ross.Jason Vermes
"How Canada's Drag Race helped this Black, queer choreographer make his mark"
''

Tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

'', October 10, 2021. She once expressed her drag philosophy about the difference between men and women as "Both sides are equally part of the glamour. I see them as stories that are ready for a makeover." Her signature move was to remove her wig at the end of her set, to call attention to drag as a performance.

Rinaldo Walcott Rinaldo Wayne Walcott (born 1965) is a Canadian academic and writer. He wrote in 2021 "I was born in the Caribbean Barbados and have lived most of my life in Canada, specifically Toronto." Currently, he is an associate professor at the Ontario Ins ...

, "Black Men in Frocks: Sexing Race in a Gay Ghetto (Toronto)" in ''Claiming Space: Racialization in Canadian Cities'' (Cheryl Teelucksing, ed.)

Wilfrid Laurier University Press Wilfrid Laurier University Press, based in Waterloo, Ontario, is a publisher of scholarly writing and is part of Wilfrid Laurier University. The fourth-largest university press in Canada, WLUP publishes work in a variety of disciplines in the hum ...

, 2006. .

Legacy

In 2019, she was named as one of 69 key Canadian LGBTQ icons in the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

-winning

Super Queeroes ''Super Queeroes'' is a Canadian multimedia web project, which launched in 2019 on CBC Arts. Created as a Pride Month project to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the project featured LGBTQ Canadians creating short video, essay or ar ...

multimedia project. Following the announcement of her death on March 28, 2021, statements of tribute were issued by a variety of influential figures including Toronto mayor

John Tory John Howard Tory (born May 28, 1954) is a Canadian politician who has served as the 65th and current mayor of Toronto since 2014. After a career as a lawyer, political strategist and businessman, Tory ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2003 ...

, writer

and drag queens

Brooke Lynn Hytes Brooke Lynn Hytes is the stage name of Brock Edward Hayhoe (born March 10, 1986), a Canadian drag queen, ballet dancer, performer, and television personality. After working as a dancer with Cape Town City Ballet and Les Ballets Trockadero de Mo ...

and

Priyanka ''Priyanka'' is a popular female given name in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. It is a name derived from the Sanskrit word 'Priyankera' or 'Priyankara', meaning someone or something that is amiable, lovable, or makes you happy and the one who has lov ...

, and organizations including Pride Toronto, The 519,

Glad Day Bookshop Glad Day Bookshop is an independent bookstore and restaurant located in Toronto, Ontario, specializing in LGBT literature. Previously located above a storefront at 598A Yonge Street for much of its history, the store moved to its current location ...

and the Toronto chapter of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

. In the third season of the drag competition series ''

Canada's Drag Race ''Canada's Drag Race'' is a Canadian reality competition television series based on the American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and is the Canadian edition of the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by Blue Ant Studios. In a similar format to th ...

'', competitor

Jada Shada Hudson Jada Shada Hudson is the stage name of Dwight Giraud, a Barbadian-Canadian drag performer who competed on season 3 of ''Canada's Drag Race''. Career Jada Shada Hudson is a drag performer. She has performed at drag shows in Toronto. Jada Shad ...

paid tribute to Ross as a trailblazer and inspiration, both in a mid-season workroom discussion about community icons and in her runway speech in the season finale.Kevin O'Keeffe
"‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 3, Episode 9 power ranking: Hey now, you’re all stars"
''

'', September 9, 2022.

Filmography

Film

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Michelle 1954 births 2021 deaths Canadian drag queens Black Canadian LGBT people Jamaican drag queens Jamaican emigrants to Canada 20th-century Jamaican LGBT people 21st-century Jamaican LGBT people 20th-century Canadian LGBT people 21st-century Canadian LGBT people Drag performers from Toronto