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Justin Vivian Bond
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Justin Vivian Bond
Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, who is transgender. Described as "the best cabaret artist of [their] generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudonym of Kiki DuRane in the stage duo Kiki and Herb, an act born out of a collaboration with long-time co-star Kenny Mellman. With a musical voice self-described as "kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration", Bond is a Tony-nominated (2007) performer who has received GLAAD (2000), Obie (2001), Bessie (2004), Ethyl (2007), and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists (2012) awards. In 2024, Bond was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Bond grew up in Hagerstown, Maryland.
As "a trans kid in a small town", Bond recalls feeling "I wasn't being accepted for who I was, but at the time I didn't even have the words to express who I was." Meanwhile, they were taking voice lessons and singing in church and in the local community theatre.
Bond studied theater at Adelphi University on Long Island from 1981 to 1985. They saw Simon and Garfunkel in concert in Central Park, but it was visiting Carnegie Hall for the first time to see Judy Collins that invoked the realization that "I had escaped my hometown and was finally beginning to live the life I'd dreamed of."
After graduation, Bond worked briefly at Details magazine. Returning to Maryland, they found roles in regional dinner theaters, often doubling as a server. Bond moved to San Francisco in 1988.
Bond started out clerking in a gay bookstore, and at some point, adopted the stage name of Justin.
A turning point occurred when Kate Bornstein cast Bond in her play Hidden: A Gender, using the life of the French, intersex person Herculine Barbin as an autobiographical device. Bond "was not sure [they] could really pull off playing a girl", according to Bornstein, and feared the censure of "[their] gay male friends". With the assistance of Kenny Mellman, they created the lounge act Dixie McCall's Patterns for Living around the persona of actress and singer Julie London. The duo played a number of gigs, both in and out of character; three years after attending Pride for the first time, Bond was hosting the show at the end of the parade. In 1993, Bond hosted the first San Francisco Drag King Contest at the DNA Lounge with Elvis Herselvis. In 1994, they appeared on film for the first time, as Amphetamine in John Moritsugu's Mod Fuck Explosion, and again the following year in Fanci's Persuasion.
Kiki and Herb met in the Eerie Childrens Institute in Western Pennsylvania in 1934. By the time they were in their late teens they were playing professionally on the Burlesque Circuit where Kiki, who had just given birth to her first child – a bastard named Bradford – was billed as "The Completely Insane Miss Kiki DuRane". In 1957 Kiki and Herb released their first LP "The Hazy Days of Kiki" to universal indifference.
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Justin Vivian Bond
Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and actor, who is transgender. Described as "the best cabaret artist of [their] generation" and a "tornado of art and activism", they first achieved prominence under the pseudonym of Kiki DuRane in the stage duo Kiki and Herb, an act born out of a collaboration with long-time co-star Kenny Mellman. With a musical voice self-described as "kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration", Bond is a Tony-nominated (2007) performer who has received GLAAD (2000), Obie (2001), Bessie (2004), Ethyl (2007), and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists (2012) awards. In 2024, Bond was named a MacArthur Fellow.
Bond grew up in Hagerstown, Maryland.
As "a trans kid in a small town", Bond recalls feeling "I wasn't being accepted for who I was, but at the time I didn't even have the words to express who I was." Meanwhile, they were taking voice lessons and singing in church and in the local community theatre.
Bond studied theater at Adelphi University on Long Island from 1981 to 1985. They saw Simon and Garfunkel in concert in Central Park, but it was visiting Carnegie Hall for the first time to see Judy Collins that invoked the realization that "I had escaped my hometown and was finally beginning to live the life I'd dreamed of."
After graduation, Bond worked briefly at Details magazine. Returning to Maryland, they found roles in regional dinner theaters, often doubling as a server. Bond moved to San Francisco in 1988.
Bond started out clerking in a gay bookstore, and at some point, adopted the stage name of Justin.
A turning point occurred when Kate Bornstein cast Bond in her play Hidden: A Gender, using the life of the French, intersex person Herculine Barbin as an autobiographical device. Bond "was not sure [they] could really pull off playing a girl", according to Bornstein, and feared the censure of "[their] gay male friends". With the assistance of Kenny Mellman, they created the lounge act Dixie McCall's Patterns for Living around the persona of actress and singer Julie London. The duo played a number of gigs, both in and out of character; three years after attending Pride for the first time, Bond was hosting the show at the end of the parade. In 1993, Bond hosted the first San Francisco Drag King Contest at the DNA Lounge with Elvis Herselvis. In 1994, they appeared on film for the first time, as Amphetamine in John Moritsugu's Mod Fuck Explosion, and again the following year in Fanci's Persuasion.
Kiki and Herb met in the Eerie Childrens Institute in Western Pennsylvania in 1934. By the time they were in their late teens they were playing professionally on the Burlesque Circuit where Kiki, who had just given birth to her first child – a bastard named Bradford – was billed as "The Completely Insane Miss Kiki DuRane". In 1957 Kiki and Herb released their first LP "The Hazy Days of Kiki" to universal indifference.
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