Gary Hall, also known as Shequida Hall or mononymously as Shequida, is a

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

n-American classically trained opera singer, songwriter, playwright, and

drag artist A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

. He attended

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

, where he studied with noted bass-baritone

Simon Estes Simon Estes (born March 2, 1938) is an operatic bass-baritone of African-American descent who had a major international opera career beginning in the 1960s. He has sung at most of the world's major opera houses as well as in front of presiden ...

. As the female character Shequida, he has been the

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

's spokesperson for Latin America. From 1997 to 1998 he played Wendi Mercury on the daytime television show '' One Life to Live''. He starred in

Daron Hagen Daron Aric Hagen ( ; born November 4, 1961) is an American composer, writer, and filmmaker. Biography Early life Daron Hagen was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up in New Berlin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. Hagen was the youngest of t ...

's ''

Vera of Las Vegas ''Vera of Las Vegas'' is an opera by Daron Hagen with a libretto by Paul Muldoon based on a treatment co-written with the composer. It is Hagen's second opera, after Shining Brow. The Center for Contemporary Opera gave the staged premiere on 25 J ...

'' for its world premier in 2003. His off-Broadway show, ''Opera for Dummies'', garnered a positive review in ''

The Boston Phoenix ''The Phoenix'' (stylized as ''The Phœnix'') was the name of several alternative weekly periodicals published in the United States of America by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts, including the ''Portland Phoenix'' a ...

'', and was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. In 2008, Shequida appeared on the TV reality competition America's Got Talent, getting into the Top 40 for the third season, but was eliminated, later saying in an interview that the experience "was very weird." Shequida headlined in summer shows in Cherry Grove on Long Island in 2013 and 2014.

References

External links

*
Official website
American dance musicians American male pop singers America's Got Talent contestants African-American drag queens American gay musicians African-American LGBT people Jamaican gay men Living people Nightlife in New York City Singers from New York City Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century Jamaican LGBT people {{US-entertainer-stub

See also

References

External links