Nashom Benjamin Wooden (October 9, 1969 – March 23, 2020) was an American performing artist. Wooden was a member of the

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

group the Ones and performed as a

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 ...

under the stage name Mona Foot.

Biography

Wooden was born in October 1969 and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and entered the New York nightlife scene as a

Club Kid The Club Kids were a New York City-based artistic and fashion-conscious youth movement composed of nightlife personalities active from the late 1980s to 1996. Coined by a 1988 New York (magazine), ''New York'' cover story, the Club Kids crossed o ...

in the mid-1980s. By 1989, he worked in Manhattan running the men's clothing department at Patricia Field's boutique while developing the drag queen persona Mona Foot with his friend and former roommate Lady Bunny. Wooden credits

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960) is an American drag queen, television host, singer, producer, writer, and actor. He produces, hosts, and judges the reality competition series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and has received List of awards ...

as an early mentor; RuPaul taught Wooden how to apply makeup, and both appeared in an

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

play titled ''My Pet Homo''. As Mona Foot, Wooden hosted the weekly drag competition "Mona Foot's Star Search" at the New York gay bar

Barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...

, cited by ''The New York Times'' as a likely inspiration for the television series ''

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, ...

''. In 1997, Wooden began to work as a bartender and DJ at The Cock, a gay bar. In 1999, he appeared in drag in the comedy-drama film '' Flawless''. Along with JoJo Americo and Paul Alexander as the music group the Ones, Wooden co-wrote and performed the 2001 song "Flawless", which peaked at No. 4 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Dance Club Songs The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart, No. 7 in the United Kingdom, and No. 2 in Belgium. Later in his life, Wooden began to perform less frequently as Mona Foot, stating that "it just kind of fizzled out. I stopped taking gigs." Wooden gave his final performance as Mona Foot in 2018, where he revived the character for that year's Wigstock to perform as

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...

. Wooden was

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

, though he had an undetectable viral load. On March 23, 2020, Wooden died at the age of 50 as a result of complications from a suspected case of

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 ...

in New York, in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic in New York City The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City was confirmed on March 1, 2020, though later research showed that the novel coronavirus had been circulating in New York City since January, with cases of community transmission confirme ...

. He was buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

in Brooklyn, New York.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wooden, Nashom 1969 births 2020 deaths American drag queens Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state) Drag performers from New York City Entertainers from the Bronx American LGBTQ musicians People with HIV/AIDS

Biography

See also

References

External links