Angie Stardust

{{short description|American singer and drag artist (1939–2007)}}

Mel "Angie Stardust" Michaels (1939 – October 21, 2007) was an American singer, actress, and drag artist of the 1950s and 1960s and the first black star of New York's Club 82.{{Cite web|date=August 1, 2019|title=82 Club: The Naughty Story of a Legendary New York Drag Institution|url=http://behindthescenes.nyhistory.org/82-club-legendary-new-york-drag-institution/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815233527/https://behindthescenes.nyhistory.org/82-club-legendary-new-york-drag-institution/|archive-date=2021-08-15}}{{Cite web|last=Huston|first=Johnny Ray|date=June 20, 2019|title=Burger Queens in Berlin|url=https://48hills.org/2019/06/city-lost-souls-frameline/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210918000934/https://48hills.org/2019/06/city-lost-souls-frameline/|archive-date=2021-09-18|website=48 Hills|access-date=2020-02-01}} She was also the manager of Hamburg, Germany's first all-male strip club, Crazy Boys,{{Cite web|url=http://sfbaytimes.com/public-performance-public-lives/|title=Public Performance, Public Lives|date=February 22, 2017}} and was the founder and proprietor of Angie's Nightclub in Schmidts Tivoli Theatre.{{Cite web|url=https://floyandthemessengers.com/floy|title=Floy|website=Floy}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lFa-zASoBVsC&q=Big+Mama+of+Soul,+angie+stardust&pg=PT35|title=Kulturverführer Hamburg|first=Nele-Marie|last=Brüdgam|date=November 1, 2005|publisher=Helmut Metz Verlag|isbn=9783937742106|via=Google Books}}

Early life

Stardust was born in Norfolk, Virginia and raised in Harlem, New York.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TX-OOXkDq7sC&q=angie+stardust,+club+82&pg=PT575|title=The Changing Room: Sex, Drag and Theatre|first=Laurence|last=Senelick|date=September 11, 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134722013|via=Google Books}} She began performing at age 14 and was a transgender woman.{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/02/juliet-jacques-hollywood-transgender-fantastic-woman |last=Jacques |first=Juliet |date=February 2, 2018|title=A fantastic leap – trans cinema's breakthrough moment |newspaper=The Guardian |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20210918000943/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/02/juliet-jacques-hollywood-transgender-fantastic-woman |archive-date=2021-09-18}}

Career

Stardust performed at the Jewel Box Revue and Club 82, both in New York City.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCxfDwAAQBAJ&q=angie+stardust,+the+jewel+box&pg=PA148|title=Gay Icons: The (Mostly) Female Entertainers Gay Men Love|first=Georges-Claude|last=Guilbert|date=May 25, 2018|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9781476674339|via=Google Books}} She was one of the first drag stars to take female hormones, an act she was scorned for at the time, and either quit over or was fired for.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KK42DwAAQBAJ&q=angie+stardust,+club+82&pg=PT27|title=Paris Is Burning: A Queer Film Classic|first=Lucas|last=Hilderbrand|date=November 25, 2013|publisher=arsenal pulp press|isbn=9781551525204|via=Google Books}}

In 1974, Stardust moved to Europe, settling in Hamburg, Germany. There, she became manager of the city's first all-male strip club, Crazy Boys.

In 1983, Stardust performed in Rosa von Praunheim's City of Lost Souls, a film that helped influence Hedwig and the Angry Itch, in which she played the proprietor of a restaurant called the Hamburger Queen and a boarding house called Pension Stardust.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jaynecounty.com/city.html|title=Jayne County - Man Enough To Be A Woman|website=www.jaynecounty.com}} Two of her co-stars were Jayne County and Tara O'Hara. The film was first screened as part of a punk rock roadshow. Shortly after the film was finished, Stardust completed her gender affirmation with surgery to complement the hormones she had been taking for years.

Stardust founded her own club, Angie's Nightclub, in Schmidts Tivoli Theatre in Hamburg, Germany in 1990.{{Cite web |url=https://blog.vueling.com/en/inspiration/sankt-pauli-a-highly-tempting-quarter/ |title=Sankt Pauli A Highly Tempting Quarter |last=Rodriguez |first=Oriol |date=March 16, 2017 |website=Vueling |access-date=June 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815233538/https://blog.vueling.com/en/inspiration/sankt-pauli-a-highly-tempting-quarter/ |archive-date=August 15, 2021}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.mygermancity.com/hamburg-nightlife |title=Hamburg Nightlife - A Red-Light District, Heavy Metal And Cocktails |website=My German City |date=April 2009 |access-date=June 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201012831/https://www.mygermancity.com/hamburg-nightlife |archive-date=February 1, 2020}}{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQgEAAAAMBAJ&q=angie+stardust,+hamburg&pg=RA1-PA44 |title=Hamburg's a haven for numerous genres |publisher=Billboard |date=April 9, 1994 |access-date=June 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815233600/https://books.google.com/books?id=QQgEAAAAMBAJ&q=angie+stardust,+hamburg&pg=RA1-PA44#v=snippet&q=angie%20stardust%2C%20hamburg&f=false |archive-date=August 15, 2021}} By 1994, the venue was regarded as "one of the best places to hear free-form jazz." Stardust performed nightly until 1999{{Cite web|url=http://www.femaletroubleproductions.nl/412907355/3045242/posting/|title=Angie Stardust: Travesty & Soul|website=Welkom|access-date=2020-02-01|archive-date=2020-02-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201014334/http://www.femaletroubleproductions.nl/412907355/3045242/posting/|url-status=dead}} and came to be known as the Big Mama of Soul, as she was known for singing soul, jazz, pop, and musical theater standards. In 1997 she recorded a version of Stephen Stills' "Love the One You're With" backed by Hamburg blues band Shanghai'd Gutz, at M.O.B. Tonstudio in Hamburg, with engineer Horst "Hobi" Siewert and American producer Daniel Liston Keller. Only a few hundred copies were released on Keller and Siewert's AlgoRhythm Recordings. Annually since 2008, Angie's Nightclub has been one of the participating venues for Hamburg's Reeperbahn Festival.{{Cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/venue/angies-nightclub-hamburg-germany-1bd77114.html?page=4 |title=Angie's Nightclub, Hamburg, Germany Concert Setlists | setlist.fm|website=www.setlist.fm}} Acts have included Skinny Lister, Mo Kenney, Ezra Furman, Kristoffer Ragnstam, Andreas Moe, Leyya, Louis Berry, George Cosby, Vita Bergen, Joel Culpepper, Conner Youngblood, Inna Modja, Bess Atwell, and others.{{Cite web|url=https://www.setlist.fm/venue/angies-nightclub-hamburg-germany-1bd77114.html|title=Angie's Nightclub, Hamburg, Germany Concert Setlists | setlist.fm|website=www.setlist.fm}}

In 2017, Angie's Nightclub was still "one of the most popular clubs of Sankt Pauli’s night scene," according to the travel blog At 30,000 Feet. As of 2020, Stardust's club is still extant and operates under the same name.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tivoli.de/gastronomie/nachtclub-angies/|title=Angie's | Nachtclub im Schmidts Tivoli | Livemusik Tanzen Cocktails|website=tivoli.de}}

Discography

class="wikitable"

!Year

!Album type

!Title

1994

|CD

|Inside Me{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Me-Angie-Stardust/dp/B00009CBCQ|title=Inside Me|date=March 8, 2010|via=Amazon}}

1993

|Single/EP

|Do It Yourself{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1140820-Angie-Stardust|title=Angie Stardust|website=Discogs}}

1992

|Backing vocals for Joy Peters

|Joy Peters's Different Colours{{Cite web|url=https://tgforum.com/david-de-alba-interviews-criselda-crescini/|title=David de Alba Interviews Criselda Crescini|date=February 15, 2016|website=Transgender Forum}}

1990

|Single

|Lady Madame

Filmography

class="wikitable"

!Date

!Film

2016

|Welcome All Sexes: 30 Jahre Teddy Awards

1987

|Crazy Boys: A Handful of Fun{{Cite web|url=https://www.filmgalerie451.de/filme/crazy-boys-eine-handvoll-vergnuegen/|title=Crazy Boys - A Handful of Fun|website=Filmgalerie 451|access-date=2020-02-01|archive-date=2019-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190711184845/https://www.filmgalerie451.de/filme/crazy-boys-eine-handvoll-vergnuegen/|url-status=dead}}

1983

|City of Lost Souls{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfweekly.com/film/arthouse-movie-listings-february-8-14-2012/|title=Arthouse Movie Listings February 8-14, 2012|date=February 8, 2012|website=SF Weekly}}

1981

|Die Alptraumfrau

1970

|Hard Women