The performer returns to D.C. for Project GLOW as his visibility gets a boost from Beyoncé
April 28, 2023 at 6:03 a.m. EDT
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From the moment his elementary school announced a talent show, Kevin Aviance — born Eric Snead — had a vision for his performance. It was 1979, and Gloria Gaynor’s disco masterpiece “I Will Survive” was charting around the world, setting dance floors ablaze.
Aviance, then 10, was drawn to its infectious bass rhythm, the sweeping strings and horns and, of course, Gaynor’s soaring vocals, which made the song an enduring anthem of empowerment and resilience — particularly in the LGBTQ community.
“I just loved that song. It was kind of like my coming-out thing,” Aviance, now 54, recalled. “And whatever happened, I was going to survive.”
So when he took the stage at Three Chopt Elementary School outside Richmond, he began his performance from behind a curtain — his voice high-pitched as he crooned, “First I was afraid, I was petrified.” Then, as the song’s catchy bass groove swelled, he strutted boldly into the spotlight in blue platform heels, a floral dress and a “full-beat face” of makeup. “And so you’re back, from outer space!” he belted as his classmates erupted into cheers.
“Back then, I knew I had to be dramatic,” Aviance said, and it worked: He won the talent show. That fifth-grade act, one he has recounted often in interviews, marked the first drag performance in a career that spans more than 30 years.
Today, as a trailblazing drag queen performer and recording artist, Aviance still begins his sets offstage, skillfully timing his entrance as the crowd’s anticipation builds. He has performed in clubs around the world, and toured Japan and France. His singles “Din Da Da,” “Give It Up” and “Alive” have all shot to the top of the Billboard dance charts. And recently, his popularity has seen a resurgence after Beyoncé sampled his song “C–ty” on her critically acclaimed 2022 album “Renaissance.” The exposure gave his career new life: Last month he signed a deal with Voss Events, a creative agency and event management company that represents Aquaria, Jaida Essence Hall and other celebrity drag talent. And later this year, he’ll release a new EP, his first in almost 20 years, and embark on a C–ty Ball tour.
But first, he’ll return to D.C., where his career began, to headline Project GLOW, a two-day electronic music festival at RFK Stadium that boasts a lineup of powerhouse DJs including Kygo, Benny Benassi and Tiësto.
The festival, now in its second year, is hosted by Club Glow, the longest-running dance party in D.C. During its inaugural event last year, more than 20,000 people showed up each day, said founder Pete Kalamoutsos. The event also made noise with a thumping closing night that literally reverberated across the city. Low cloud coverage was to blame for the sonic boom, making for an unforgettable festival debut.
One goal for Project GLOW this year is to showcase more of the city’s local flavor. Ed Bailey, longtime nightlife operator and owner of popular queer bars Trade and Number Nine, was tapped to lead the charge. His vision will feature a “secret garden” tucked away on the festival grounds and feature some of the local DJs who have contributed to the city’s evolving nightlife scene. While reflecting on club culture in D.C., Bailey was inspired to invite an old friend.
“There’s nobody in the history of D.C. and club life that represents some kind of substantial force of nightlife and entertainment like Kevin,” Bailey said.
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Their friendship is deeply rooted in D.C.’s club scene. When Aviance packed his car and moved to the city for a guy in the late ’80s, he pictured a new life as a “housewife” and hairdresser. But the city’s booming club culture had other plans for Aviance, who quickly became a centerpiece of District nightlife.
In Washington, he said, “every night was epic, honey.” “D.C. was an incredible journey for me because that’s where I got my Blackness from, that’s where I get my individuality.”
Among the venues he heavily frequented: Tracks on Thursdays for “Alternative Night,” Badlands, the Frat House, Dakota, Kilimanjaro, “all of Adams Morgan,” Clubhouse in the wee hours of the mornings, then Tracks again on Sundays for “Black Night.”
Tracks, a gay nightlife staple for 15 years before shuttering in 1999, “is where I was born,” said Aviance, who was central to many of the nightly vogue and runway battles the club hosted.
“[He] was an integral part of the energy of that space,” said Bailey, who deejayed at the venue before becoming one of its key promoters, “and it allowed me professionally to become more noteworthy because his involvement made things more noteworthy in general.”
It’s also where he met Juan Aviance, the founder and “mother” of House of Aviance — one of the most notable vogue-ball houses in the country. Kevin, with his big hair, cutoff shorts and cowboy boots, immediately caught Juan’s eye. “Back then, even though people were gay and out there, people were still nervous about being themselves,” Juan recalled, “but I noticed Kevin … and I was like ‘B—h, you fierce!’”
Kevin became one of the first members of House of Aviance and, as is customary, took a new stage name to affiliate himself with his new family. Feeling shunned by the larger ballroom scene in New York City, House of Aviance began throwing its own parties and competitions in D.C. Its first, the Inferno Ball, packed the house. “I don’t think Tracks ever had that many people in that building,” Juan said. “It was like one of those big moments of its time.”
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In 1991, Aviance moved to Miami to refine his craft. “I needed to get my drag bones,” he said, and South Florida’s rich drag history and party scene had turned the region into a haven for queens.
“[Kevin] and I ended up being part of the bill of a big event in Miami one year where I was deejaying and he was the main performer,” said Bailey. “And I remember we took a moment to look at each other and realize kind of where we had come from and how we had gotten to what was one of the biggest parties in the country at the time together.”
Two years later, after joining Juan in New York City, Kevin landed a series of jobs that made him one of the most popular queer nightlife figures in the industry — from gigs with Madonna, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston to TV and film appearances in Robert De Niro’s “Flawless” and Tyra Banks’s “America’s Next Top Model.”
The success of his 1999 debut album “Box of Chocolates” brought him back to the District over the years, including a performance at a D.C. Pride Fest. “I [remembered] I decided to jump off the stage and did runway down the whole street for my song ‘C–ty,’” he said. Today, a stunt like that would come with a lot more risk, he said, during a time when the LGBTQ community faces an onslaught of anti-trans bills, drag protests and attacks.
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In 2006, Aviance himself was the target of a hate crime in New York City that made national headlines. According to the New York Times, a group of men were arrested in connection with an attack outside a gay bar in East Village that left Aviance with a broken jaw, a fractured knee and neck injuries. Days later, his jaw was still wired shut as he addressed a crowd at the city’s gay Pride parade. “You can’t keep a good queen down,” he said to cheers.
His message back then was to respond with love. “Stop the violence. Stop the hate. Just love — love, love, love,” he implored the LGBTQ community. But today, he senses greater tension in the atmosphere. “Gay pride is not about pride — it’s about protest, at least this year it is,” he said. “And I think that’s where we have to shift gears and stop the celebration [because] we’re now defending for our lives.”
Aviance says the new wave of LGBTQ activism is empowering. “I’m political. I’m Black, I’m gay, I’m a drag queen — I’m political,” he said, “And I am learning to do my part. To be more vocal, to be more aware.”
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These moments of reflection, resilience and perseverance all culminated with the culture-shifting release of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” last year, an album that honors the Black LGBTQ community and samples queer icons such as Moi Renee and Big Freedia. From his apartment in Harlem, Aviance played the album moments after its midnight debut on streaming platforms — never imagining he would hear his commanding voice echoing “C–ty” at the start of Beyoncé’s track “Pure/Honey.” Aviance stood up, then everything went black. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” he said. “My blood went to my head so fast that I passed out in the middle of my bedroom.”
Aviance had no prior knowledge of the release, he said, because the producer behind “C–ty” forgot to tell him before going on vacation. Instead, Aviance cycled through every emotion as he replayed the track. “I was happy, I was mad, I didn’t know what to do with it. It was just too much to handle,” he said. But ultimately, he wouldn’t change anything about the way he found out, “because the story is quite dramatic, and I love it.”
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Since the album’s release, Aviance said he’s had a chance to meet Beyoncé́ — but he’s holding that experience close to the chest, along with any knowledge of whether he’ll appear on a potential visual album for “Renaissance” or its world tour, which kicks off in Stockholm next month. “You can’t be talking freely at the mouth about Bey,” he explained.
But what he will share, and as often as he can, is his gratitude. “There was a time before this all happened where I couldn’t even call to get a gig.” he said. “So to be validated by a Black woman, a Black billionaire-diva that took us in and held us up to the world and said, ‘Listen to these people, they have a story to tell’ — that’s what’s so beautiful about the whole thing.”
And of all his hit songs, she chose the one that meant the most to him. Aviance views “C–ty” as the definitive single of his career, like Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” and other groundbreaking diva anthems. “Everybody has their ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,’” he said. “So if any song is going to represent me totally, it would be ‘C–ty.’”
While the word is more commonly considered derogatory, Aviance said its meaning in his song originated in the ballroom scene, where it is used to reference someone who is confident, fierce and exudes a powerful feminine energy.
“C–ty is an anointment from God,” he said. “C–ty is a feeling. It’s something that comes over your body that you are given and you feel it. You know how to walk, you know how to talk, you know how to be, you know how to dance. You know how to feel fab about yourself and you don’t need anyone else to verify it for you.”
Since the day he strode across the stage of his school’s auditorium, Aviance has reveled in his own power and individuality — relishing the journey it set him on.
“It’s a blessing to be able to tell a story,” he said. “but it’s a really great thing to be able to live it again.”
Styling by Jamie Grace; hair and makeup by Darvel Freman, Mac Cosmetics
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