John Sex

John Sex was a cabaret singer and performance artist in New York from the late 1970s until his death from AIDS in 1989.

Early life

Born on April 8th, 1956, his name at birth was John McLaughlin, but singer Joey Arias gave him the last name of Sex because of an activity John enjoyed very, very much. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Career as performance artist

John Sex was a "performance art dancer" who performed at such legendary New York clubs as Club 57, the Pyramid Club, Danceteria, The Palladium, Paradise Garage and Andy Warhol's Underground. For the 1986 gay parade in New York City, he organized and helped build a float called the "Go-Go Stars" float which had go-go dancers from various night clubs go-go dancing on it. His last public performance was at the club Mars in New York in 1989. He made music videos for his songs "Rock Your Body" and "Hustle with the Muscle" which were distributed as 12" singles. Mr. Sex's trademark was his long, blond hair which stood straight up. He also dressed in flamboyant costumes. He owned a python named Delilah that was often included in his cabaret act, and was a friend of artist Andy Warhol. Sometimes he would leave the python on stage and come down into the audience and wrestle with patrons of the club.

Further reading

* In Touch magazine #77 March 1983 Portfolio of photographs of John Sex and interview with John Sex (Peter Berlin on front cover)

External links

* [http://www.funtone.com/thenelsonchannel/johnsex/ The Joy of John Sex] - video clips of John Sex performances.