Christer Lindarw (born 3 March 1953) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

clothes designer, actor,

drag queen 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 o ...

entertainer, and the leader of drag group '' After Dark''.

Career

Lindarw was born in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna h ...

Södermanland County Södermanland County ( sv, Södermanlands län) is a county or '' län'' on the southeast coast of Sweden. In the local Sörmlandic dialects it is virtually universally shortened and pronounced as Sörmlands län, or simply Sörmland, which is ...

. He was educated at Beckmans designhögskola in Stockholm. His 1976 stage debut was as ''Zsa Zsa Shakespeer'' in '' Wild Side Story'' at Alexandra Charles's club, and he staged his first major production at Hamburger Börs in 1980 together with Roger Jönsson and Lars Flinckman, Lindarw's future co-star of many years from stage shows with their group After Dark. After Dark participated in

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Son ...

with the song ''La dolce vita'' and placed third in the final in Globen. Lindarws interest for dragshowing started after an masquerade where the theme was reversed gender roles. On Jönsson's recommendation he had started to appear in

drag Drag or The Drag may refer to: Places * Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway * ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...

in 1976. Lindarw hosted shows at the nightclub Shazam for a few months and then started the dragshow group After Dark and opened his own nightclub with the same name at David Bagares gata in Stockholm. The group had its big breakthrough called ''Förför Sverige i tiden'' at Hamburger Börs. Christer Lindarw also started designing dresses for his friend Lill Lindfors, one being the dress that accidentally "fell off" her during her introduction at the

Eurovision Song Contest 1985 The Eurovision Song Contest 1985 was the 30th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song " Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" by Herreys. Organised by the Euro ...

. In 2017, Lindarw performed the surprise finale number, imitating Queen Silvia of Sweden, during the annual televised show in

Öland Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...

for Crown Princess Victoria's 40th birthday. In the fall of 2016

Bonniers Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, De ...

had published a lauded book about his life. Simultaneously, Lindarw began another media-praised show tour around Sweden, with him alone leading his cast; all sold out, it wrapped up a year later at

Oscarsteatern Oscarsteatern ( English: Oscar Theatre), also known simply as Oscars, is one of Stockholm's private theatres and is the best-known musical theatre in Sweden. It is located at Kungsgatan 63 in central Stockholm. History The theater was designed i ...

in Stockholm, also ending the four decades of successful performances of ''After Dark''. Outside Sweden Christer Lindarw is known mainly for performances in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and for clothes he has designed for international celebrities such as

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

Family

His father was the international speedway rider Bert Lindarw.

Bibliography

References

External links

Lindarw.net

After Dark - La dolce vitawww.afterdark.nu - After Dark's history
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindarw, Christer 1953 births Living people Melodifestivalen contestants Sommar (radio program) hosts Swedish drag queens Swedish entertainers 21st-century LGBT people