Sylvester James Jr. (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988), known mononymously as Sylvester, was an American singer-songwriter.
Primarily active in the genres of disco, rhythm and blues, and soul, he was known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance, falsetto singing voice, and hit disco singles in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Born in Watts, Los Angeles, to a middle-class African-American family, Sylvester developed a love of singing through the gospel choir of his Pentecostal church.
Leaving the church after the congregation expressed disapproval of his homosexuality, he found friendship among a group of black cross-dressers and transgender women who called themselves the Disquotays.
Sylvester has been described as having a “flamboyant and colorful” public persona, wearing both male and female gendered clothes as part of his attire, with his biographer Joshua Gamson opining that for Sylvester, “gender was an everyday choice”. Sylvester described his public persona as “an extension of me, the real me
Who was Sylvester the singer married to?
The singer’s final partner, the architect Rick Cranmer, was a six-foot-two blonde, and the duo moved into a house together in the hills. Cranmer died of AIDS-related complications in 1987, the year before Sylvester succumbed to the virus.
Source: Ghanafuo.com
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