OUT AFRICA MAGAZINE Out Magazine ISSUU 33 | Page 21

And the history of your name? “I was watching FAME,
the tv series and this commercial came on: “You can buy
this beautiful diamond ring for only 19.95 – the perfect
Valentine’s gift. Also available in Jade!” – That’s it!. It was
Jade from the next day on ‘till right now.”
But getting back to entertaining … after graduating from the
Academy in New York, Jade worked as a dancer on cruise ships
and in glamour shows in Vegas, Reno and Atlantic City. He’s
always been a multi-faceted entertainer singing, acting and
dancing. “I was doing a dancing gig in Chicago and was asked
to do a cover of a Macarena-type song in Spanish. Their English
version flopped and the Latin version was a hit. A lucky break
that saw me being invited to participate in the 2002 Human
Rights Initiative Being Out Rocks which featured amongst
others George Michael, K.D Lang, Queen and Cyndi Lauper” -
and Jade of course, a huge feather in his cap.
I was keen to know how he came to do a one-man show …”So
many things were happening and had happened in my life,
l was a Latin pop singer, I’d come out in an interview which
resulted in the gay community propelling my exposure by
having me perform at gay pride events around the country.
But the first one-person show … well, I’d just completed a
contract on a cruise ship, I was going to London with friends
and a family emergency brought me back to America. I’d
written all these songs for an album I was going to do with a
singer friend in London, so instead of going in to the studio I
put them in to my first One-person show called It’s Too Late
… It’s Already In Me. It was based on the true story of my
best friend who contracted HIV and passed away. – that was
in 1997 at an International Latin Arts and Culture Festival in
San Antonio.”
Burlesque
Jade performed Vol. 1 of the series of ICONS shows here
in Cape Town. It was first performed in 2002 and since then
he has written and choreographed and performed another 5
volumes and is working on Volume 6. They are so successful
not only because they are entertaining but they are something
positive for the LGBTI+ community, giving us a heritage we
can be proud of. They are enlightening and educational and
a valid commentary of the progress, huge contribution and
difference LGBTI+ people have made throughout history.
Icons was reported by one journalist in Dallas as a “Feel good
session for gay people”.
For one night only Jade performed his ICONS show to
the “most diverse audience I’ve ever performed to” at the
Goodhope MCC in Green Market Square. In ICONS: The
Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1  Jade
took on six gay personalities, starting in Ancient Greece with
Sappho (Plato’s 10 th muse) , Michelangelo, a delightfully camp
Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein (brilliant with her belligerent
snobbishness!), Sylvia Rivera (the Puerto Rican drag queen
who in 1969 lit the spark that ignited the Stonewall riots
in New York when she threw her high-heeled shoe at the
police) and Ellen DeGeneres (whose musical number in the
show is entitled “Yep, I’m Gay” which was the title of the
Time magazine cover story when she publicly came out).
From the acceptance of same-sex relationships in the ancient
world to the religious demonisation in later centuries. From
the wit of Wilde to the tragedy of the holocaust, ICONS
is an enlightening, educational and above all, entertaining
experience as he turns the pages of history.
“So many of us in the LGBTI+ community have little
knowledge of gay history” says Jade, “Gay history is lost
history. But I didn’t just want to point out to people, ‘Look
at all the great things gays and lesbians have contributed
to society.’ The show is more about needing to know your
heritage, leaving a mark and having your voice heard.”
Gertrude Stein
Jade - Clown Life
Photo: Brent Kosadnar
Mag 19