Pepper LaBeija,
a queen of Harlem drag balls and a subject of the documentary "Paris
Is Burning," died on May 14 in Manhattan at the age of 53. The cause
of death was a heart attack, the New York Times reported.
LaBeija, whose
given name was William Jackson, appeared at the balls in glamorous fashions
and presided for more than 30 years over the House of LaBeija, a group of
drag performers who used the surname LaBeija.
"A house
is a family for those who don't have a family," she said in "Paris
Is Burning."
Pepper LaBeija
was the last of the four major Harlem drag ball queens. The others, Angie
Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis, died in recent years.
LaBeija supported
herself by producing the balls and teaching modeling, the Times reported.
Chronicled in
"Paris Is Burning," the balls are performance extravaganzas that
blur gender boundaries and feature contests to see which performers can
look and act most like a certain archetype, for instance a fashion model.
The Harlem ball scene also innovated the stylized dance form known as "voguing."
LaBeija was sidelined
in recent years by diabetes and had both of her feet amputated because of
the disease. She last performed at a ball in 2001, according to the Times.
____________________________________________________________
Pepper LaBeija Dies
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: May 27, 2003
5:56.m. ET
(New York City) Pepper LaBeija known as the Queen of Harlem has died at
53. Born William Jackson, Pepper headed the House of LaBeija, performing
at the gala Harlem drag balls of the 60's, 70's, and 80's. She was immortalized
in the 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning.
Pepper was the last
of the four great queens of the modern Harlem balls; Angie Xtravaganza,
Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis all died in recent years. At their heyday,
the four drag artists put on shows that made Las Vegas showgirls seem tame.
Each of the four queens
headed a "house"
The House of LaBeija
was one of the first, founded in 1970. Pepper LaBeija was called "mother";
the house's younger members were the "children."
"A house is a
family for those who don't have a family," LaBeija said in the movie.
The Harlem balls gave
African American and Hispanic drag performers a place to dress up and perform
and made them major celebrities in the Harlem gay community.
An earlier circuit
for drag performers had been geared to white people, and black performers
had sometimes whitened their faces to fit in.
LaBeija had diabetes,
which had led to the amputation of both feet, and had been bedridden for
most of the past decade. She last performed at a ball in 2001, when 30 attendants
delivered her on a litter to the crowd's jubilation.
©365Gay.com®
2003
__________________________________________________________________
wnbc.com - News - Pepper
LaBeija, Drag Ball Queen, Dies At 53
Pepper LaBeija, Drag Ball Queen, Dies At 53
POSTED: 8:48 a.m. EDT May 26, 2003
NEW YORK -- Pepper LaBeija, a famed queen of the Harlem
drag balls died in Manhattan of a heart attack on May 14 at age 53.
LaBeija, whose given name was William Jackson, was known
for appearing in and performing in gleaming feminine clothing at the balls,
which were captured in the 1991 documentary "Paris Is Burning."
She was seen as the last of the great queens of the Harlem
balls. Others including Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis
have all died.
LaBeija was said to have been legendary to those who were part of the drag
balls, in which the queens costumed themselves in extravagant ways and performed.
She won as many as 250 trophies for her takes on high fashion.
"This is the end of the golden age," said Brian
Lantelme, who has covered the drag balls as a photographer.
LaBeija took her name from the "house" she led,
which was given to it by another female impersonator. All those who performed
as part of the group used the same surname.
"A house is a family for those who don't have a family,"
she said in "Paris Is Burning."
She led the House of LaBeija for more than 30 years, even
while stricken with diabetes, for which she had to have both feet amputated.
Her income came from producing the drag balls and teaching modeling, according
to her friend, Marcel Christian LaBeija.
She was survived by a son and daughter, although Lantelme
and Marcel LaBeija did not know their names.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
______________________________________________________________________
NewsFlash Home | More
National News
National News
Pepper LaBeija
The Associated Press
5/26/03 7:07 AM NEW YORK (AP) -- Pepper LaBeija, a famed queen of Harlem
drag balls, died of a heart attack May 14 at age 53.
LaBeija, whose given name was William Jackson, was known for appearing in
and performing in gleaming feminine clothing at the balls, which were captured
in the 1991 documentary "Paris Is Burning."
She was seen as the last of the great queens of the Harlem balls. Others
including Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Avis Pendavis have all died.
LaBeija was considered a legend to those who were part of the drag balls,
in which the queens costumed themselves extravagantly and performed. She
won many trophies for her takes on high fashion.
"This is the end of the golden age," said Brian Lantelme, who
has covered the drag balls as a photographer.
LaBeija took her name from the "house" she led. All who performed
as part of the group used the same surname.
"A house is a family for those who don't have a family," she said
in "Paris Is Burning."
She led the House of LaBeija for more than 30 years, even while stricken
with diabetes, for which she had to have both feet amputated. Her income
came from producing the drag balls and teaching modeling, according to her
friend, Marcel Christian LaBeija. George C. Martin
__________________________________________________________________
Pepper LaBeija, house mother extraordinaire (Photo by Brian Lantelme)
After the
ball is over
A death marks a turning point for legendary Harlem drag balls and their
houses
By KEVIN
SPENCE
NEW YORK - Pepper LaBeija, a Bronx-born performer who was featured in the
1991 documentary "Paris Is Burning," died on Sunday, May 14, at
Roosevelt Hospital, as first reported in the New York Times. LaBeija, 53,
was the last of the four great queens of the contemporary Harlem balls.
Some say her death marks the end of an era of the contemporary, ballroom
communities.
"It's the
end of a golden age," said Brian Lantelme, a photographer who covered
the balls since 1987.
In 1990, Madonna
introduced national audiences to the ballroom community through her video,
"Vogue," which featured such legendary ballroom competitors as
Willie Ninja, Jose and Luis Xtravaganza.
"It's just
the end of that particular era, the 30-year ballroom era," said Wolfgang
Busch. Busch is currently producing an upcoming film, "How do I look,"
[sic] planned as a sequel to Jennie Livingston's landmark "Paris Is
Burning."
Lantelme visited
LaBeija, (whose birth name was Willie Jackson) and cared for her in the
hospital until her death. LaBeija fell ill for the last time in March. Then,
he said, she went into the hospital, where she died of a heart attack. "Pepper
has been very sick for the last eight or nine years," said Lantelme.
LaBeija, who was diabetic, had both feet amputated and had been bedridden
for almost a decade.
"With him,
a whole era died," said Busch. "But since he wasn't so active
for the last five years or so, since he was handicapped, he couldn't walk
or compete anymore."
Many people
within the ballroom community paid homage to her while she was alive, said
Lantelme. When she turned 50, Tommy LaBeija, a member of House of LaBeija,
hosted a ball at the YWCA on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn three years ago.
"Literally
thousands of people showed up," Lantelme recalled. Then, in 2001, she
performed at her last ball. LaBeija was also
honored by Gay Men of African Descent for her work with gay youth.
Lantelme was
also a friend of Dorian Corey, another deceased legend of the Harlem drag
balls. Angie Xtravaganza and Avis Pendavis were two of the other widely
known "mothers" of the community who have died in recent years.
"They were
considered to be four major people in the balls," Lantelme said. "They
were the major houses and mothers of a certain time frame up until 1990.
The House of LaBeija really doesn't exist anymore."
The traditional
definition of the ballroom community is changing, according to Lantelme.
By the late 1980's, he said, more categories became more inclusive of "butch
queens," judged on their ability to pass as straight. Other categories
include "realness" - those who resemble an archetype - or "fem
queens" who are often gender variant people passing as women.
According to
Busch, the ballroom community primarily started as a drag competition -
a fierce one at that, oftentimes leading to intra-house violence from the
intense competition. Many of the celebrated queens died, mostly from AIDS,
"some not even reaching their '30s," he said.
Then, their
boyfriends and entourage (known as a "house"), carried on the
legacy beyond female impersonation. "Now it's transgender and a new
style of voguing," said Busch. To him, there is a new generation of
voguing including "drama voguing." "These children took the
old way to a new level," said Busch.
Passing the
torch to a new generation
According to Lantelme, the "balls are very much going on up and down
the East Coast." But the competitions differ from
previous years.
Today, there
are ballroom communities in Atlanta, South Florida, Baltimore, Detroit,
Washington, D.C. and New Jersey. The "houses" usually consist
of a "mother, father and children," said 32-year-old Emanuel Xavier,
founder of House of Xavier.
As in a real-life
family, some houses are single-parent households, Xavier added. Most of
the children found new "families," which often led them to houses,
within the ball community.
In most cases,
they were rejected or thrown out of their real families because they were
gay. "It became a means of support for queer youth," said Xavier.
Most of the houses are named after a legend within the community.
LaBeija was
"mother" of House of LaBeija. In the 1990's, houses were named
after designer labels. "I compare them to slams," said Xavier.
His house is not a traditional house, but one based on poetry. "I'm
introducing spoken word to the ball community as another means of expression,"
he said.
The House of
Shade, overseen by Father Wari Shade, is an example of the new school of
houses. "He's generally giving the community, as a whole, a positive
perspective, much like Willie Ninja did," said Xavier.
Xavier also
strongly supports the House of Latex because of what they do with GMHC in
educating the public about safe sex. House of Xtravaganza, said Xavier,
was one of the original houses featured in "Paris is Burning."
"Jose and
Luis toured with Madonna on the Blond Ambition Tour," Xavier said.
"There's a lot of talent within that house."
House of Infiniti
is best known for the "fem-queens," or gender variant individuals,
who compete in the ballroom categories. "They are some of the most
beautiful transgender members in the community,"
according to Xavier.
Like Lantelme
and Busch, Xavier agrees that the some houses are undergoing a new transformation
in the 21st century. "There are a lot more positive role models and
influences," he said. For Xavier, minority gay youth have more options.
"The houses
will always serve as a function because there are always going to be families
who won't accept gay youth," he added. Despite continuing violence
within the ballroom community, the houses are less threatening than they
used to be, he said.
"There
will always be queer youth out there looking to create their own families
and that's a function of the houses and communities," said Xavier.
"There will always be a role model for them to look up to like Pepper
LaBeija."
_________________________________________________________________
Pepper LaBeija Is Dead
at 53
Veteran of Harlem drag
balls sparkled in Paris Is Burning.
By PAUL SCHINDLER
Pepper LaBeija, for the past 30 years a star of the drag ballroom scene
that first grew up in Harlem and is now celebrated in the Bronx and Brooklyn
as well, died on May 14 at the age of 53.
Photo: Wolfgang Busch
Pepper LaBeija, for the
past 30 years a star of the drag ballroom scene that first grew up in Harlem
and is now celebrated in the Bronx and Brooklyn as well, died on May 14
at the age of 53.
LaBeija, who for at least
a decade suffered from crippling diabetes that led to the amputation of
her feet, suffered a heart attack and died at Manhattan's Roosevelt Hospital,
an unidentified family member told The New York Times.
Active in balls since
the early 1970s, Pepper joined the House of LaBeija, one of dozens of chosen
families who look out for each other, make clothing together, and prepare
for competition against other Houses at elaborate balls that can attract
hundreds of participants and spectators. In her later life, Pepper was the
mother of the House of LaBeija, a role in which she took care of the other
House members called children.
The ballroom world enjoyed
its highest popular profile and LaBeija became an international pop icon,
at least among the art house crowd, with the release of Jennie Livingston''s
1990 documentary, Paris Is Burning. Pepper was among the film's most glittering
and memorable stars, but it also came just a couple of years before her
diabetes confined her to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
LaBeija lived until her
death in the Bronx apartment of her mother, who insisted that her child
be called by her birth name, William Jackson. In Paris Is Burning, LaBeija
recounted that as a young queen she put off her mother's questions by saying
that women's clothing found in her closet were a friend's. But when Pepper,
in drag, was recognized by her father on West 125th Street, her mother's
concerns intensified. A few months later, when her mother noticed that Pepper
had breasts, she took a mink coat out to the apartment house backyard, where
she burned it.
"Devastated, I stood
there and cried like a baby," Pepper recalled.
According to Wolfgang
Busch, a friend and a filmmaker who is completing a documentary, How Do
I Look?, that he described as a sequel to Paris Is Burning, LaBeija made
her last appearance at a ball ""all done"" in 2001,
even in her wheelchair. That final ball appearance was at an Egyptian Pageant
held at the YWCA at Atlantic and Third Avenues in Brooklyn. 2001 was also
the year that Pepper was honored by the Gay Men of African Descent.
Busch said that Pepper
was "symbolically the last one from that era," before Livingston
made the ball scene accessible to millions and Madonna popularized vogueing,
a dance that previously had only been practiced competitively at the balls.
Busch said that his drive
to further document the ball scene is tied to his interest in the creativity
and artistic progression that are consistently alive in that world. He said
that many of the ball stars of the 70s and 80s have been lost to AIDS, which
he said "wiped out not only the body, but also the spirit, the creativity,
and the soul of a particular moment."
Marcel Christian LaBeija,
who at 58 is the grandfather of the House, got involved in the ball scene
in 1963 and said he is the oldest still ball-active participant. Like Busch,
he sees Paris Is Burning as a turning point in the ball world of New York.
Before the film came out, he said, there were 27 active Houses in New York.
A year later, there were 70. Today, the largest annual ball----drawing up
to 2,500 people----is thrown by the House of Latex, which does HIV prevention
advocacy out of the Gay Men's Health Crisis. The most prestigious event,
however, is the annual Awards Ball, which moves from venue to venue.
Since the early 90s, the
Awards Ball has inducted a handful of queens into the Ballroom Hall of Fame.
Pepper made it the first year, and Marcel was inducted in 1996.
Marcel, who is the in-house
costume designer at the Nuyorican Poets Caféé on the Lower
East Side, credited Pepper with making a home for him at LaBeija, when his
original House, the House of Christian, became "extinct." Marcel
recalled Pepper as a very active House mother, with deep connections to
her children.
Junior LaBeija, who last
year became the father of the House, said that he hoped that news of Pepper's
death might afford an opportunity for a better understanding of her life
and of the history and context of the ball scene.
Junior got involved in
the House of LaBeija in 1975, drawn to it by "the intelligence we shared
about the arts."
"We had a true caring
and sensitivity about the arts," he said. "Our House included
choreographers, designers, and eloquent speakers. I was the baby when I
joined. I will be 46 years old this year."
Junior said that among
the popular images of the balls that he hopes to challenge are that they
grew up in the 1960s and that the drag practiced is focused on "emulating"
white cultural symbols denied to African American and Latino gay men. He
pointed to the mention in the New York Times obituary of Pepper of the Town
and Country competition at some balls.
In fact, he said, the
Harlem ball scene has existed for more than 100 years, and the balls have
primarily been about cross dressing.
"The balls were for
men to dress up as women," he said. "When there were balls in
60s, it was about high fashion and the belief systems and values of how
gay, transgendered, transvestite, and transsexual people perceived themselves
in what they viewed as safe havens. Once or twice a year, at the balls,
they were able to vent their repressed sexual identity."
Junior contrasted the
balls in Harlem, where multi-racial crowds numbering in the thousands gathered
with the Stonewall Inn in June 1969, where drag queens and people of color
weren't welcome.
"What's missing about
the historical value of 1969 is that while Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson
were downtown marching for their rights, cross dressers in Harlem were expressing
their identity as part of their constitutional rights," Junior said.
"They were not trying to emulate their white oppressors."
Junior compared Pepper
to Fagan in Oliver Twist.
"Fagan saw his own
status as a criminal, but given responsibility for orphans, by any means
necessary he made food and shelter available to them without judging the
parents who had abandoned them," he said.
A memorial service for
Pepper LaBeija will be held on Thursday, June 12 at 7 p.m. at the LGBT Community
Center, 208 W. 13th Street.
