Joseph Lewis Black (born 23 December 1989), better known by the stage name Joe Black is a British musician,

drag performer Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves cross-dressing. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininely and a drag ...

and

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

artist from

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

, England. He is best known for competing on the second series of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' and getting eliminated first and fifth, after being voted back on to the show in episode five.

Career

Black has fulfilled his career as a cabaret performer since 2007, and has become one of the leading figures in the dark

genre. He regularly performs in

(in which he resides) and often performs at the annual

Brighton Fringe Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 v ...

festival. Black has cited his love for music as one of the main reasons he's kept on pursuing his career; he often plays the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque frict ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

and

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

at his performances. Black has toured extensively across the UK, Europe, Australia and America for more than a decade. This included a UK tour with the

season 9 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

contestant of ''

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, ...

'',

Sasha Velour Alexander "Sasha" Hedges Steinberg (born June 25, 1987), known professionally as Sasha Velour, is an American drag queen, artist, actor, and stage and television producer, based in Brooklyn, New York. Velour is known for winning the ninth seaso ...

. In December 2020, Black was announced as one of twelve contestants competing on the second series of ''

''. Black was the first contestant eliminated in a lip sync challenge against contestant

Bimini Bon-Boulash Thomas George Graeme Hibbitts (born 12 May 1993), better known by the stage name Bimini Bon-Boulash or Bimini, is an English drag queen, author, recording artist and model based in East London, and born in Great Yarmouth, England. They are be ...

to the song "

Relax Relax or RELAX may refer to: Albums * ''Relax'' (album), by Das Racist, 2011 * ''Relax'', by Blank & Jones, 2003 * ''Relax'', by Los Piratas, 2003 Songs * "Relax" (Deetah song), 1998 * "Relax" (Frankie Goes to Hollywood song), 1983 * "Relax ...

" by

Frankie Goes to Hollywood Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford (backing vocals), Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). Johnson and Ruther ...

. However, Black returned in episode five when the previously eliminated queens returned from a forced

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

production break (excluding

Ginny Lemon Lewis Matthew Lumiere Mandall, Croucher, known professionally as Ginny Lemon, is a British drag performer and recording artist best known for competing on the second series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. They are known for their alternative and ...

) and won his spot back in the competition after the contestants voted to bring him back. Black was again eliminated following a lip sync challenge against contestant

Tia Kofi Lawrence John Bolton, better known by the stage name Tia Kofi, is a British drag queen and singer from Clapham, South London. They are best known for competing on the second series of '' RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2021), and winning the second se ...

to the song "

Don't Leave Me This Way "Don't Leave Me This Way" is a song written by Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Cary Gilbert. It was originally released in 1975 by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes featuring Teddy Pendergrass, an act signed to Gamble & Huff's Philadelphia Interna ...

" by

The Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. They consisted of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles. They are best known for their cover versions of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes fe ...

. He is the first contestant to return after being eliminated from ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK''. Since his elimination, Black announced a UK Tour titled ''Decopunk'', which began touring in September 2021, as well as the release of a 40% ABV limited edition gin of the same name. In February 2022, Black embarked on ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK: The Official Tour'' alongside the entire cast of the second series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'', in association with World of Wonder and promoter Voss Events.

Personal life

Black has spoken openly about having and living with

Tourette's Syndrome Tourette syndrome (TS), or simply Tourette's, is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in childhood or adolescence. It is characterized by multiple movement (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic. Common tics are blinki ...

, on multiple occasions.

Filmography

Television

Music videos

Discography

As featured artist

Stage

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Joe 1989 births Living people 21st-century British LGBTQ people British cabaret performers British people with disabilities Dark cabaret musicians Drag performers from Brighton and Hove English drag queens English gay musicians LGBTQ cabaret performers Musicians from Brighton and Hove Musicians from Portsmouth People with Tourette syndrome RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestants