Yvette the Conqueror

Yvette The Conqueror was a well-known dragqueen who took Leigh
under his wings before he started dressing up. Yvette was very kind to let Leigh
wander around the clubs with him and become a huge influence on his early years
in England.

Yvette prefers to be referred to as a cross-dresser, `I hate the word `drag'.
I don't know why, I always have. The cross-dressing thing just....happened,
and what's nice about it is, if Susan and Andrew want to go to The Ivy or The
Caprice, I dress. I don't do it for sex, but it is a good way to lig around
Europe'. Her sultry looks have brought her unwanted attention, once after performing
in Manchester she jumped into what she thought was a cab, only to be kidnapped,
clubbed over the head and nearly sexually assaulted.

Roy and Ian named themselves `Sugar & Yvette' and would wait on tables all
night before casting aside their aprons and doing a turn on the stage. The unknown
drummer at the time later became Roland Rivron and the keyboard player is still
Rivron's partner in Raw Sex. `Sugar & Yvette' got involved in the growing
alternative comedy circuit at a theatre within the Raymond Revue Bar. Yvette
shared billing with the likes of Pamela Stephenson and Alexi Sayle, and expresses
surprise she made it that far, `Can you imagine? It was a nightmare. I can't
do comedy, if somebody wrote me a script I could maybe learn it.' It's the second
shock of the evening; she's admitting she not so hot at telling jokes, something
her critics have often taken pride in pointing out. Later on in the interview
she admits she can't cook and describes dinner parties where she made all the
guests eat omelette, her only culinary flourish. By her own admission she's
neither a comic nor a chanteuse, she's just `Yvette'- what you see is what you
get. If her appeal is hard to pin down, there are some who've been hugely affected
by her, the most notable being Leigh Bowery who met Yvette at one of Andrew
Logan's Alternative Miss World Competitions. Leigh had much respect for Yvette,
and their influential encounter is charted in Sue Tilley's book `Leigh Bowery-
The Life and Times of an Icon'. A nervous and shy Bowery was shown the ropes
by `The Conqueror' herself who introduced him to all the clubs and people he
had idolised for years. Yvette took Bowery to ChaChas in what is now The Soundshaft,
and then led him through to Heaven which was arguably the start of Leigh's genius
flirtations with fashion.

(Yvette's 12'' single "The Boys Were There/get
It On)



"Steve Strange was my number one idol, we arrived at the club and Kim Bowen
was at the door looking fantastic, a bit like Queen Elizabeth the Frst. Steve
was downstairs and I could'nt believe it when Yvette introduced me to him. All
my fantasies had become true..." - Leigh Bowery (extract from the book
"Lifes And Times Of An Icon" by Sue Tilley, p. 28)

Creation date : 19/01/2007 @ 16:37
Last update : 19/01/2007 @ 16:37
Category : Leigh's favourite Divas!
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