Sylvester

Sylvester James (b. September 6, 1947 in Los Angeles, California – d. December 16, 1988 in San Francisco, California) was a black disco and soul musician and gay drag performer. His grandmother was the jazz singer Julia Morgan. He pe

Sylvester James (b. September 6, 1947 in Los Angeles, California – d. December 16, 1988 in San Francisco, California) was a black disco and soul musician and gay drag performer. His grandmother was the jazz singer Julia Morgan. He performed under his first name only, Sylvester.

Living in San Francisco in the 1960s, he performed in a musical production called Women of the Blues, then joined a short-lived group of transvestite performance artists called The Cockettes in the early '70. Famed transvestite Divine was a member of the group as well. Sylvester can be seen in the Cockettes' outrageous short film Tricia's Wedding, lampooning the wedding of President Nixon's daughter Tricia, and an eponymous 2002 documentary about the group.