Justin Vivian Bond

Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter, author, painter, performance artist, occasional actor, drag queen, and Radical Faerie. Described as "the best cabaret artist of his generation," and a "tornado of art and activism," Bond first achieved prominence under the pseudonym of Kiki Durane in the stage duo known as Kiki and Herb, an act born out of a collaboration with long-time co-star Kenny Mellman. With a musical voice, self-described as "kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration." Bond is a Tony-nominated (2007) performer, who has received GLAAD (2000), Obie (2001), Bessie (2004), Ethyl (2007), and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2012). Assigned male at birth, Bond is transgender and prefers the gender-inclusive honorific Mx. (in place of Ms./Mr.) and pronoun v (with vself instead of her/himself), a reference to the artist's middle name.

Early life

Bond grew up loving popular songs and the women who sang them. Reared in the remote suburbs of Hagerstown, Maryland, the artist's early role models appeared via the stereo and the television set. From early on, Bond longed "to sing, be amusing, and wear fabulous outfits" like Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Cher. The young Bond idolized "more icy people" like Joan Didion, Patti Smith, Marianne Faithfull, Vivien Leigh, and Grace Kelly, keeping scrapbooks of Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave. Listening to the family's eight-track tapes in the back seat of a white, Buick Skylark on road trips, Bond preferred a recording of Billy Vaughn and his orchestra because "it sounded like a movie soundtrack" for an imaginary film in which Bond, wearing high heels, played the leading role. Bond recalls falling in love with an album for the first time at the age of four after hearing Wildflowers by Judy Collins, and soon became obsessed with Karen Carpenter.