Sylvester

  • born Sylvester James Jr. in 1947 in Watts, Los Angeles
  • sang in gospel choirs
  • joined San Francisco psychedelic drag troup The Cockettes
  • released two albums that flopped
  • often recorded with Two Tons O’ Fun, a.k.a. The Weather Girls
  • enjoyed his first major hit “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” in 1978
  • recorded several other albums
  • was openly gay and defied gender norms
  • headlined one of the first AIDS fundraisers (with Joan Rivers and Charles Nelson Reilly)
  • died of AIDS complications in 1988
  • was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005