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Charlie Hides

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Charlie Hides
Hides, circa 2017
Born (1964-07-12) 12 July 1964 (age 60)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom, United States, Ireland
EducationMassachusetts College of Art and Design
Occupations
Known forYouTube
RuPaul's Drag Race
Spouse
James Hides
​
(m. 2004)​
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2011–present
GenreComedy
Subscribers100 thousand[1]
Total views23.88 million[1]
Associated acts
100,000 subscribers2017
Last updated: 12 July 2020
Websitecharliehidestv.com

Charlie Hides (born 12 July 1964)[2] is a British-American drag queen, impersonator, actor, and comedian. Hides is known for his YouTube channel, and his participation in the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Following live performances in London clubs, Hides started a YouTube channel in March 2011. He has produced hundreds of videos satirizing popular culture, and impersonating celebrities such as Cher, Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Lana Del Rey.[3][4][2]

Personal life

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Hides was born in Boston, Massachusetts[5] on 12 July 1964.[4] He attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. He currently lives in London and has multiple citizenship, being a citizen of the United States, United Kingdom, and Ireland.[6][7]

Hides is gay, and in 2004 married his partner James Hides in the town of Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Career

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Hides began as a successful drag act in Provincetown, Massachusetts in the 1990s. There he would incorporate live singing as well as comedic skits into his act. This success continued when he moved to London in the 2000s where he began performing on the London cabaret circuit in gay-venues, and legendary drag/cabaret venues, such as The Two Brewers and The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. As his success grew, he became a sensation across the United Kingdom and would regularly tour the UK.

Hides started a YouTube channel after high-definition video uploading became available on the website. Following the creation of his channel, he uploaded some of the videos that he used in live performances and comedy routines. Since Hides created the Charlie Hides TV YouTube channel in March 2011, he has uploaded over 200 videos. These include series such as Madonna/Lady Gaga Nightmares and Shit ____ Says.[8]

In 2013, Hides uploaded a sketch that starred Australian singer and actress Kylie Minogue. He impersonated Cher during a telephone call with Minogue. In 2015, Hides starred on the TV show Big Brother's Bit on the Side, where he impersonated celebrities whilst commenting on Celebrity Big Brother contestants. Hides also had a cameo role in the film Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, as a drag performer. In 2014, The Charlie Hides Show aired on London Live as a pilot show, incorporating elements from his live performances and YouTube channel.[9][10][11][12]

Hides has occasionally drawn the attention of some of the acts that he impersonates. In a 2013 interview with the Herald Sun, Cher said that Hides was her "favourite Cher impersonator". When Lady Gaga was in London, she sent flowers to Hides, alongside a note. Hides has also stated that Liza Minnelli, Elton John and Kris Jenner have been "very kind".[13][14]

In 2019, Hides' began regularly performing and hosting 'Drag Queen Bingo' and saw instant success with every show selling out that he began taking it across the United Kingdom. 'Drag Queen Bingo' would become Hides' regular show, taking over from his evening cabaret shows, and in 2020 he set up the company dragqueen.bingo.

RuPaul's Drag Race

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Main article: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 9)

On 2 February 2017, Logo TV announced that Hides would participate as a contestant in the ninth season of American reality competition RuPaul's Drag Race. Aged 52 at the time of competing, Hides was the oldest contestant to participate in any Drag Race franchise. This record would be broken in late 2023, when it was announced that 57-year-old Kitten Kaboodle would compete on the fourth season of Canada's Drag Race. The season premiered on 24 March 2017, on VH1.[15] In an interview with BBC News Newsbeat, Hides said:

The label drag queen is not just a cookie cutter, one-size fits all type of label. There's pageant girls, there's comics, there's celebrity impersonators. There's every different type of queen under the sun. That's one of the things that Drag Race has definitely shown over the course of nine seasons. That there's so many different ways to express yourself using this art form. You'd think it's just gay men, but it's got a huge following of women who are watching for the fashion. They're watching for the colourful sense of humour and then they're identifying with us. The contestants are human beings and not just seen as some dancing clowns or as freaks. We are definitely in need of laughter, sunshine, brightness and colour. Drag queens are defiant. We are the counter culture, the opposition party. We are everything that the moral majority and small-minded bigots fear.[16]

Charlie Hides in 2017

On the fourth episode of the show, entitled "Good Morning Bitches", Hides was eliminated from the competition. He was placed in the bottom two by the judges, and therefore had to participate in a "Lip-Sync for Your Life" to Britney Spears' "I Wanna Go" against fellow contestant Trinity Taylor. Hides commented on the lip-sync, saying that the self-described "disaster" was a result of having a fractured rib, due to a cheerleading challenge several episodes prior. In the episode's challenge, Hides was critiqued for his performance in the talk show segment of the episode. The morning after his elimination, Hides uploaded a music video for his new single, "The Dame".[17][18][19]

Controversy

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In December 2015, Hides was accused of using blackface and ethnic stereotypes to represent one of his characters, Laquisha Jonz. An activist, Chardine Taylor-Stone, launched a petition on the website Change.org, calling for the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, and other venues, to cancel Hides' performances. Taylor-Stone claimed that the character was "a racist act based on misogynist stereotypes of black working-class women, it is outdated, offensive, shameful and has no place in the LGBT Community". As a result, Hides stated that he will no longer use the character in his performances.[20][21]

Filmography

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Television

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Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2014 The Charlie Hides Show Self Pilot show on London Live [12]
2015 Big Brother's Bit on the Side Various Multiple impersonation sketches [10]
2017 RuPaul's Drag Race Self (contestant) Season nine Contestant- 12th Place [22]
RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked Spin-off series on WOWPresents [23]

Film

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Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2016 Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie Drag queen Cameo role [11]

Discography and parodies

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Title Year
"The Edge of Glory" 2011
"MILF Gone Wild" 2012
"Boyfriend"
"Turn Up the Radio"
"Woman's World" 2013
"Roar"/"Wrecking Ball"
"Applause"
"Judas"
"Venus"
"Adore You" 2014
"Booty"
"All About That Bass"
"Welcome to New York"
"Living for Love" 2015
"You Fucked a Bad Gay"
"Don't Call Us" 2017
"The Dame"

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Result Ref.
2014 Royal Television Society Awards Best Low Budget Programme Won [24]
2016 Boyz Awards Best Cabaret Act Won [25]

References

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  1. ^ a b "About Charlie Hides TV". YouTube.
  2. ^ a b Bryant, Christopher (1 February 2012). "An Interview with Charlie Hides". Polari. Archived from the original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  3. ^ Domingo, Reg (4 March 2014). "The Many Faces of Youtube Parody Star Charlie Hides". Gay News Network. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  4. ^ a b Jankuloska, Maggie (13 March 2013). "From Boy to Diva: An Interview with Charlie Hides". HelloGiggles. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  5. ^ "Why RuPaul's Drag Race is more than just a TV show". BBC Newsbeat. 24 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  6. ^ "10 Things About Me". YouTube. 25 February 2017. Archived from the original on 5 April 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  7. ^ Watts, Laurence (30 January 2013). "Charlie Hides on becoming a YouTube drag sensation". Pink News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Charlie Hides TV". YouTube. Archived from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  9. ^ Hernandez, Greg (30 July 2013). "He may not really be Cher, but Charlie Hides got the real Kylie Minogue to be in new video". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Tonight on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Stateside". Channel 5. 19 September 2015. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  11. ^ a b Stroude, Will (16 November 2015). "Ab Fab Movie Shoots Scenes at Royal Vauxhall Tavern With Over 90 Drag Queens". Attitude. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  12. ^ a b "The Charlie Hides Show". British Comedy Guide. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  13. ^ Alexander, David (13 February 2015). "Charlie Hides Takes on Australia (but Not Kylie Minogue, He's Too Tall)". Star Observer. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  14. ^ Adams, Cameron (2 October 2013). "19 things Cher wants to share". Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  15. ^ Carey-Mahoney, Ryan (2 February 2017). "Your guide to the new queens vying for the 'RuPaul's Drag Race' crown". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  16. ^ "Why RuPaul's Drag Race is more than just a TV show". Newsbeat. BBC News. 24 March 2017. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  17. ^ Guerra, Joey (14 April 2017). "Charlie Hides talks cracked ribs and that disastrous 'Drag Race' lip sync". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  18. ^ Reynolds, Daniel (15 April 2017). "Last Words With Drag Race's Charlie Hides". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 16 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  19. ^ "Good Morning Bitches". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 9. 14 April 2017. VH1.
  20. ^ Patrick McCormick, Joseph (14 December 2015). "Cabaret act accused of 'blackface' retires from performing at London venue". Pink News. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  21. ^ Lyell, Carrie (14 December 2015). "Drag Act Accused of Racism Will No Longer Perform at London's RVT". Diva. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  22. ^ Nolfi, Joey (2 February 2017). "TV Logo reveals RuPaul's Drag Race season 9 cast". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  23. ^ Voss, Brandon (25 March 2017). ""RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked" Season 9, Episode 1: "Oh. My. Gaga."". NewNowNext. Logo TV. Archived from the original on 3 April 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  24. ^ Brinnand, Alex (18 November 2014). "Charlie Hides Wins TV Award". TenEighty. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  25. ^ Duke, Simon (6 April 2016). "UK drag royalty Charlie Hides stepping into the Shade in Newcastle". Chronicle Live. Archived from the original on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
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