Adore Delano (formerly Dani Noriega; born September 29, 1989) is an American

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses Drag (entertainment), drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate Femininity, female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have ...

, singer-songwriter, and television personality. She first appeared as a contestant on the seventh season of ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

'' in 2008 before competing on ''

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

'' season 6 (2014) and ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' season 2 (2016). She has recorded and released three studio albums: ''

Till Death Do Us Party ''Till Death Do Us Party'' is the debut studio album from American singer-songwriter and drag queen, Adore Delano. The album was released through Sidecar Records in association with Producer Entertainment Group on June 3, 2014. The album was ava ...

'' (2014), '' After Party'' (2016), '' Whatever'' (2017), and one EP ''Dirty Laundry'' (2021).

Early life

Delano was born in

Glendora, California Glendora is a city in the San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County, California, east of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 census, the population of Glendora was 52,558. World-famous Route 66 runs through the city. Known as the "Pride of the Footh ...

on September 29, 1989 to Bonnie Pimentel Noriega. She was raised in

Azusa, California Azusa ( Tongva: ''Azuksa'', meaning "skunk") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and located east of downtown Los Angeles. Its population wa ...

, where she attended Sierra High School, a continuation school for at-risk teenagers.

Career

2007–2009: ''American Idol'' and early work

When Delano was cast for ''American Idol'', she had been living as a

transgender woman A trans woman or transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity and may experience gender dysphoria (distress brought upon by the discrepancy between a person's gender identity and their ...

. She detransitioned in order to become a contestant. She competed on the seventh season of the show in 2007, and reached the semi-finals. The season was broadcast from January to May 2008. Delano gained a reputation among viewers for her flamboyant personality and sassy rapport with the judges. A comment she directed toward judge

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

went viral. After watching Delano on ''Idol'',

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

invited her to perform on her R Family Vacations cruise. Talk show host

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, actress, television host, writer, and producer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in the early 1980s, gaining national attention with a 1986 appearance on '' ...

invited Delano to be a guest on her show. Following ''American Idol'', Delano became a YouTube personality. On her channel, she performed skits in drag under the names Adore Delano and Angel Baby. In June 2009, she released the music video for the song "24/7," featuring sister Diamonique.

2010–present: ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and albums

After seeing ''

'' contestant

Raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

perform at the nightclub ''Micky's'' in West Hollywood, Delano was inspired to enter a drag competition at the club, which she won. She began performing as Adore Delano in Southern California. Along with other ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' contestants, she walked the Marco Marco runway for

Los Angeles Fashion Week Fashion Week in Los Angeles occurs biannually. Multiple show producers hold events throughout the Greater Los Angeles area each March and October. Traditionally, the City of Los Angeles identified the third weekend of those respective months as t ...

in 2013. In December 2013,

Logo TV Logo TV (often shortened to Logo, and stylized as Logo.) is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched in 2005, Logo was originally dedicated to lifestyle and entertainment progra ...

announced her as one of 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of ''

''. She had previously competed for the season 5 fan-vote, ultimately losing to Penny Tration. Adore Delano eventually went on to win three challenges and made it to the final three. With

Courtney Act Shane Gilberto Jenek (born 18 February 1982), better known under the stage name Courtney Act, is an Australian drag queen, singer and television personality. Courtney first came to prominence competing on the first season of ''Australian Idol' ...

, she finished as runner-up to season winner Bianca Del Rio. Adore Delano Pizza

Following the finale of ''Drag Race'', Adore Delano released the single "DTF" on May 20, 2014, as the lead single from her debut album ''

''. The album was released on June 3, 2014, charting at number three on the US

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums and Top Dance/Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling dance music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by Nielsen ...

chart, 11 on the US

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' mag ...

chart, and number fifty-nine on the ''Billboard'' 200. She released music videos for the majority of its tracks, including "I Adore U", which peaked at 49 on the US ''Billboard'' Dance/Electronic Songs. In November 2014, Adore Delano announced that a second album was in the works with an anticipated 2015 release date. Adore Delano's album ''After Party'' was set for release March 11, 2016. "Dynamite", the first single, was released on February 26, 2016; "Take Me There", the second single, was released on March 10, 2016; and the "I.C.U.", was released on September 1, 2016. Adore was one of 10 contestants on the second season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars''. She chose to leave the show in the second episode for personal reasons. ''Whatever'', her third studio album, was released on August 18, 2017. On April 4, 2017, Delano filed a lawsuit against

Producer Entertainment Group Producer Entertainment Group (PEG), also affiliated with Producer Entertainment Group Records (PEGR), is an American talent management firm and production company based in Burbank, California. The group manages LGBTQ+ talent across the globe, in ...

, her former management company, alleging that Delano had earned $2.5 million over the past three years, but only about $300,000 was actually paid. P.E.G. counter-sued in January 2018, alleging Delano owed the company $180,000 in management fees. The suit was dismissed by a judge who awarded no money to either party. In 2019, Adore Delano appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season 11 of ''Drag Race''. In June 2019, a panel of judges from ''New York'' magazine placed her sixth on its list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former ''Drag Race'' contestants. In August, she was featured on the cover of ''Gay Times''. In December 2019, she joined the cast of the fourth season of ''

Ex on the Beach ''Ex on the Beach'' is a British reality television series that is broadcast on MTV UK. The series was first announced in February 2014, and premiered on 22 April 2014. The series is narrated by Andrew Maxwell. ''Ex on the Beach'' follows the ...

''.

Personal life

Delano

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

at age 12, then as gay. In a 2012 interview, she said she is not opposed to dating women. From 2017 to 2023, Delano identified as

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and used any pronouns. Delano said that "gender isn't a real thing … it's just something they came up with to categorize and control people". Delano came out as transgender in 2023. In an interview with ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', she explained that after detransitioning in order to appear on ''American Idol'', she attempted to mollify her feelings about her gender identity by living as a woman through Adore. In a coming-out video she posted to Instagram on July 26, 2023, she exclaimed that she "could not do it anymore", and revealed that she was transgender. She said that she had been taking

estrogen Estrogen (also spelled oestrogen in British English; see spelling differences) is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three ...

for about three months, and that she had scheduled a

gender-affirming surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associated ...

for the following November. On December 1, 2024, Delano announced that she was in a relationship with Sasha Allen, who was a contestant on season 21 of the

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series ''The Voice''. She has been sober since 2021.

Discography

* ''

'' (2014) * '' After Party'' (2016) * '' Whatever'' (2017)

Tours

Headlining *Till Death Do Us Party Tour (2014–2015) *After Party Tour (2016–2017) *Birthday Tour (2017) *Whatever Tour (2018) *Time Hop Party Tour (2018) *A Pizza Me Tour (2019) *The Beautiful Idiots Tour (2020) *Dirty Laundry Tour (2021) *Party Your World Tour (2022–2023) Co-headlining act *Battle of the Seasons 2015 Condragulations Tour (2015) (with ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Cast) *Battle of the Seasons 2016 Extravaganza Tour (2016) (with ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Cast) *ABCD Tour (2018) (with Bianca Del Rio,

, and Darienne Lake) *Heels of Hell Tour (2019) *The Annual Halloween Sickening Ball Australia (2020) Promotional *After Party UK Promo Tour (2016) *The Ghost of Ohio United Kingdom Tour – opening for Andy Black (2019)

Awards and nominations

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Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Music videos

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delano, Adore 1989 births Living people 21st-century American singers American Idol participants American musicians of Mexican descent Hispanic and Latino American drag queens Hispanic and Latino American musicians LGBTQ Hispanic and Latino American people LGBTQ people from California American LGBTQ rights activists American LGBTQ singers LGBTQ YouTubers People from Azusa, California People from Glendora, California People who detransitioned American transgender musicians American transgender women Adore Delano American gay musicians American YouTube vloggers American music YouTubers YouTubers who make LGBTQ-related content Singers from California Actors from California American drag queens Transgender drag performers 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people YouTubers from California Transgender women singers Drag performers from California