James St. James (born James Clark; August 1, 1966) is a television personality, author,

celebutante ''Famous for being famous'' is a term for someone who attains celebrity status for no clearly identifiable reason (as opposed to fame based on achievement, skill, or talent) and appears to generate their own fame, or someone who achieves fame thr ...

, frequent collaborator with Mathu Andersen, and former "

Club Kid The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to ...

", a member of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

club scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s. St. James was notorious for a lifestyle of excess that included heavy drug use, partying, and bizarre costumes that first brought him to national attention as the subject of television appearances and interviews. He wrote ''

Disco Bloodbath ''Disco Bloodbath: A Fabulous but True Tale of Murder in Clubland'' is a 1999 memoir written by James St. James about his life as a Manhattan celebutante and club kid. The book specifically chronicles his friend Michael Alig's rise to fame, and ...

'' (now published under the title ''Party Monster'') that was later made into the feature film '' Party Monster'' (2003), starring

Macaulay Culkin Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...

Michael Alig Michael Alig (April 29, 1966 – December 24, 2020) was an American club promoter and convicted felon. He was one of the ringleaders of the Club Kids, a group of young New York City clubgoers who became a cultural phenomenon in the late 1980s a ...

and Seth Green as St. James. His life was the subject of the documentary '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' (1998).

Early life and education

James grew up in an affluent family in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, where he lived with his mother after his parents divorced. In the summer, he would stay with his father and younger and older siblings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, until he moved to Fort Lauderdale for high school.

Career

In the late 1980s, St. James became friendly with

, although at first he and the other club personalities shunned the newcomer.Fenton Bailey & Barbato, Randy. (1998) Format:Documentary '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary''
Undeterred, Alig soon created his own scene by gathering up other creative personalities of the nightlife world; he used his flamboyant style, and engaged in self-promotion and innovative themed parties. St. James morphed from celebutante to

while helping Alig create the new scene. Alig and St. James threw many parties together, eventually setting up the Disco 2000 club night at the New York City club

The Limelight The Limelight was the name of a chain of nightclubs owned and operated by Peter Gatien. It had locations in New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, London and Hallandale. Context During the 1980s, club culture had died down because of the AIDS e ...

. St. James wrote several columns, most famously for the short-lived New York City-based

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

publication ''

OutWeek ''OutWeek'' was a gay and lesbian weekly news magazine published in New York City from 1989 to 1991. During its two-year existence, ''OutWeek'' was widely considered the leading voice of AIDS activism and the initiator of a cool new sensibility in ...

'' during the magazine's two year life span, from 1989–1991. St. James appeared many times on television talk shows to discuss the

Club Kids The Club Kids were a group of young New York City dance club personalities popularized by Michael Alig, James St. James, Julie Jewels, Astro Erle, Michael Tronn, DJ Keoki, and Ernie Glam in the late 1980s, and throughout the 1990s would grow to i ...

during the 1980s and 1990s, including ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

'', ''

The Phil Donahue Show ''The Phil Donahue Show'', also known as ''Donahue'', is an American television talk show hosted by Phil Donahue that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast on WLWD in Dayton, Ohio, and i ...

'', ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American scripted syndicated tabloid talk show that aired from September 30, 1991 to July 26, 2018. Produced and hosted by its namesake, Jerry Springer, it aired for 27 seasons and nearly 5,000 episodes. The television ...

'', '' Geraldo'', and the '' Joan Rivers Show''.

Publishing debut

St. James's debut book, ''

'' (1999), is a memoir that describes his life in the club scene, and documents the infamous rise to fame of Michael Alig and Alig's murder of Andre "Angel" Melendez. The film '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' (1998) was released prior to but is based on events in ''Disco Bloodbath'', as is the film '' Party Monster'' (2003).

''Freak Show'' and the 2000s

St. James published a second book, ''Freak Show'' in 2007, a comedy/romance about a teenage drag queen who attends a new school and forges a relationship with the football team's quarterback. ''Freak Show'' was named to the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

Best Books for Young Adults list. The book was adapted into a feature in 2017 by Maven Entertainment. The film was directed by

Trudie Styler Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress and film producer. Early life and family Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker. When Styler was two years ...

, and stars

Alex Lawther Alexander Jonathan Lawther (born 4 May 1995) is an English actor. He made his professional acting debut originating the role of John Blakemore in Sir David Hare's ''South Downs'' in the West End. He made his feature film debut playing a young ...

Abigail Breslin Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. She rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at ...

, and Bette Midler. St. James curates art shows at the World of Wonder Gallery for the production company World of Wonder, makers of both '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' (1998) and '' Party Monster'' (2003), and blogs regularly on World of Wonder's website, the WOW Report. In the 2000s St. James has made regular appearances on ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'', cycles 5, 7, & 11, presenting contest skill challenges to the aspiring models. St. James also appeared in season 2, episode 9 of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'', where he interviewed the top four contestants on a red carpet before they walked the runway. St. James currently has a long running webseries through the World of Wonder channel WOWPresents, titled ''Transformations: with James St. James.'' The webseries features various makeup artists, drag queens, Club Kids, and ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' alums giving St. James themed makeovers.

Bibliography

* (Now published under the title "Party Monster") recreated as the feature film '' Party Monster'' starring

as Alig and Seth Green as St. James. *

Filmography

* '' Party Monster: The Shockumentary'' (1998); extensive interviews describing clubbing in the 1980s/1990s, directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato * '' Party Monster'' (2003) * ''

Freak Show A freak show, also known as a creep show, is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with ...

'' (2018)

References

External links

* (St. James's Online Blog) {{DEFAULTSORT:St. James, James 1966 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American drag queens American male non-fiction writers American memoirists Club Kids American gay writers LGBT people from Michigan Living people People from Saginaw, Michigan Writers from Fort Lauderdale, Florida 21st-century American male writers