Who Is RuPaul? by Nico Medina (English) Paperback Book

The Nile on eBay   Who Is RuPaul? by Nico Medina, Who HQ, Andrew Thomson

Learn about RuPaul Andre Charles, an Emmy-winning host, producer, television personality, and the world's most famous drag queen.

FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description

Learn how this Emmy-winning host, producer, and television personality became the world's most famous drag queen.Learn how this Emmy-winning host, producer, and television personality became the world's most famous drag queen.RuPaul Andre Charles always knew he was meant to be a performer. Even as a young child, he loved to dress up and imitate the glamorous women he saw on television. When he turned fifteen, he began studying theater in a performing arts school in Atlanta and never looked back. Ru developed his drag-queen personality and launched his career in the 1980s. He now hosts and judges the widely popular and long-running show RuPaul's Drag Race, which has raised the profile of the art of drag, and drag queens around the world.

Author Biography

Nico Medina is the author of several Who HQ books, including What Was Stonewall?, Where Is Mount Everest?, Where Is Alcatraz?, Who Was Aretha Franklin?, and What Was the Ice Age?

Excerpt from Book

Who Is RuPaul? On September 18, 2016, RuPaul made television history. (Or "herstory," as Ru would say.) A drag queen---most commonly, a man who dresses up and performs as a woman---had never won an Emmy until then. (Emmys are awards for excellence in TV programming, as chosen by the Television Academy.) Backstage, RuPaul held back tears as he spoke about "all the kids who watch the show." How it had helped them to "navigate their lives." The show he was talking about was RuPaul''s Drag Race. Ru is both the host and judge of the reality--competition show of drag queens from across the United States. The queens all share a passion for performing in drag and compete against one another for a cash prize and the title of America''s Next Drag Superstar. According to Ru, drag isn''t something unusual to be feared or looked down upon. "Everybody within the sound of my voice is in drag, right now, whether [they] know it or not," RuPaul has said. What Ru means is, when anyone puts on clothing, they are getting into some form of costume---some type of "drag." When you go to school, you don''t put on your bathing suit. Maybe you put on a uniform. You wear what is expected for a student to wear. People dress in "drag" to go to work. To weddings. Out to dinner. RuPaul says, "We''re all born naked and the rest is drag." What Ru means is that we''re all the same---and life is a performance. By the time RuPaul''s Drag Race won its first Emmy for Outstanding Reality--Competition Program in 2018, 140 drag queens had competed on the show. Many have gone on to have successful careers and thousands of fans of their own. "We celebrate people who dance outside the box," RuPaul said after the win. Their "stories need to be told, and I think there is value in those stories for everyone, not just drag queens." RuPaul had traveled a long road to get to that moment. More than thirty--five years before, he had put on his first wig. It had been over twenty--five years since Ru''s song "Supermodel (You Better Work)" had hit the airwaves and made him the world''s most famous drag queen. And it was nine years since Drag Race''s television debut. But RuPaul had always known he would be famous. Ru has said that to become a star, you need to believe you''re a star---and eventually, other people will start believing it, too. As a child in the 1960s, RuPaul hadn''t seen many people like him---people who were gay, even people who were Black---on popular TV shows. But things had changed for the better, and Ru had been a part of that change. "I have always been a creative person," Ru said. "I''ve always been able to see different colors that other people were ignoring." How had RuPaul, who came from very humble beginnings, become such a superstar? This is his---and her---story. CHAPTER 1: "I Accept My Destiny!" RuPaul''s full name is RuPaul Andre Charles. His mother, Ernestine "Toni" Charles, knew this was an unusual name. Before RuPaul was even born, a fortune--teller had told Toni that her son would be famous. So she named him RuPaul because, she said, "ain''t another . . . with a name like that." Toni and RuPaul''s father, Irving, were both from Louisiana. They had met on a blind date. Soon after, they moved to Houston, Texas, and got married. Ru''s older twin sisters, Renae and Renetta, were born in 1953. Irving Charles had served in the army and fought in the Korean War. After the army, Irving moved the family out west to San Diego, California, where he worked as an electrician. The Charles family moved into a three--bedroom house. Irving built a patio out back. RuPaul was born on November 17, 1960. His younger sister, Rozy, was born two years later. Life in the Charles house was not always easy. RuPaul''s parents fought and yelled a lot. When RuPaul was seven, his parents divorced. His mother became so upset that one day, she didn''t get out of bed. That''s when Ru''s older sisters, Renae and Renetta, became the grown--ups in the house. They took care of Ru and Rozy while Toni got the help she needed. Eventually, Toni got better and found a good, steady job. She worked at a clinic, then later at a local college. Young RuPaul always knew that he was different from most boys his age. He was quiet and sensitive. He also loved the cigar commercials on television that featured glamorous women, in sparkling evening gowns, performing to Broadway--style music. When he was four, RuPaul saw something on television that changed his life forever. Diana Ross and the Supremes, a popular musical group at the time, appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed their hit song "Baby Love." Ru was captivated. For one thing, seeing three Black women on a program like Ed Sullivan''s was unusual in the early 1960s. And RuPaul saw himself in Diana Ross, the dazzling lead singer, with her perfect hair, beautiful dress, and big, bright smile. He remembers thinking: "That one there, the one in the middle---that''s me." He knew then that he wanted to be famous---the center of attention---just like Diana. RuPaul preferred to be around girls rather than boys. He thought that girls and women expressed their emotions and feelings more than boys did. And he liked to play dress--up in their clothes. "You should have been a girl, and your sister Rozy should have been a boy," some bullies said to him. The hurtful comments sometimes made RuPaul cry. Still, RuPaul always did what made him happy: He entertained. Ru''s mom and sisters were his first audience. "Do your thing," Toni would tell him, and Ru would stand up, sing, and dance just like the big stars of the day--people like -Tina Turner, Cher, and Elvis Presley. RuPaul looked up to his mom. He loved her simple yet elegant style. And even though his Toni could be tough, she also had a sweet and sensitive side. She had "the strength of a man and the heart of a woman." RuPaul was not afraid to be himself and look different from everybody else. When he was ten, he bleached and braided his hair. At one point, he had a red Afro seventeen inches deep! Ru attended Alonzo E. Horton Elementary School, just a block from his house, from kindergarten through sixth grade. In seventh grade, he took acting lessons at the local children''s theater. Ru loved it so much, he signed up for drama at his new middle school. But aside from drama classes, Ru was not the best student. He often got caught staring out the classroom windows, daydreaming. RuPaul would rather be home, reading his magazines about Hollywood movie stars, New York City celebrities, and Motown musicians like the Supremes. He loved everything about pop culture: the cool fashion, movies, music, and art that was popular at that time. Ru sometimes tagged along with his older sisters when they visited their friends Aletha and Deborah. Their mom worked as a maid on the other side of town, so the kids would have the house to themselves in the afternoons. They could listen to records---and sing and dance--as loud as they wanted to! By the time he entered high school, tall, thin, and freckly RuPaul really stood out from the crowd. With his soft facial features, he was sometimes mistaken for a girl. In the mornings before class, RuPaul attended Breakfast Club at the cafeteria. Doughnuts, chips, and chocolate milk were served, and the tables and chairs were pushed aside to make room for the students to dance. RuPaul remembers one morning watching from the sidelines as everyone did a dance called the Bump. Then one day, he and his friend Michelle showed off a move no one at Breakfast Club had seen before. It was called the Crypt Walk, the latest dance craze from Los Angeles. (Ru had seen Olivia Newton--John, one of his favorite singer--actresses, perform it on TV.) Soon everyone was doing the Crypt Walk! That school year, Ru was voted Best Dancer and Best Afro by his ninth--grade classmates. Thinking back on that day, Ru later said that was his way of saying to the universe, "I accept my destiny!" He was born to entertain. What did RuPaul do after introducing the Crypt Walk to his classmates? Well . . . he did not go to class. In fact, RuPaul skipped so many classes, he was expelled. What would he do now? The family decided it was best for Ru to move in with his sister Renetta and her husband, Laurence. Laurence was a serious young man with dreams of his own. He was a good role model for RuPaul. He''d earned a scholarship to the University of California, -San Diego, and he dreamed big. Laurence loved to drive around La Jolla (say: la HOY--ah), a wealthy neighborhood on the coast, and look at all the big houses. Sometimes he and Renetta brought her family along. RuPaul liked Laurence. He was the big brother Ru never had. A father figure, even. But just six months after RuPaul moved in with Renetta and Laurence, the couple decided to move two thousand miles away, to Atlanta, Georgia. There were more opportunities there, Laurence said. Would Ru like to join them? "Sure," he said, "why not?" CHAPTER 2: "RuPaul Is Everything"

Details ISBN0593222695 Pages 112 Audience Age 8-12 Series Who Was? Language English Year 2021 ISBN-10 0593222695 ISBN-13 9780593222690 Imprint Penguin Workshop Author Andrew Thomson Illustrator Andrew Thomson Format Paperback Place of Publication New York, NY Country of Publication United States US Release Date 2021-05-11 UK Release Date 2021-05-11 Birth 1939 Death 1939 Affiliation University of Illinois Position Toshiba Professor of Media, Arts, and Sciences Qualifications OBE Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc Publication Date 2021-05-11 DEWEY 791.45028092 Audience Children / Juvenile NZ Release Date 2021-08-02 AU Release Date 2021-08-02 We've got this

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