{{short description|American singer and drag artist (1939–2007)}} {{Infobox person | name = Angie Stardust | image = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing brackets --> | alt = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software --> | caption = | birth_name = Mel Michaels | birth_date = 1939 | birth_place = Norfolk, Virginia, U.S | death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|10|21|1939}} | death_place = Hamburg, Germany | other_names = | occupation = Singer, actress, and drag artist | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''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.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto5">{{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}}</ref> She was also the manager of Hamburg, Germany's first all-male strip club, Crazy Boys,<ref name="auto6">{{Cite web|url=https://sfbaytimes.com/public-performance-public-lives/|title=Public Performance, Public Lives|date=February 22, 2017}}</ref> and was the founder and proprietor of Angie's Nightclub in Schmidts Tivoli Theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://floyandthemessengers.com/floy|title=Floy|website=Floy}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref>
Stardust died on October 21, 2007, at the age of 67–68.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Angie Stardust |url=https://guide.hkw.de/en/portraits/angie-stardust |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=Angie Stardust |language=en}}</ref>
==Early life== Stardust was born in Norfolk, Virginia<ref name="auto6"/> and raised in Harlem, New York.<ref name="auto2">{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto6"/> She began performing at age 14<ref name="auto5"/> and was a transgender woman.<ref name="auto">{{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}}</ref>
==Career== Stardust performed at the Jewel Box Revue and Club 82, both in New York City.<ref name="auto2"/><ref name="auto7">{{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}}</ref> She was one of the first drag stars to take female hormones, an act she was scorned for at the time,<ref name="auto2"/> and either quit over or was fired for.<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto5"/>
In 1974, Stardust moved to Europe, settling in Hamburg, Germany.<ref name="auto6"/> 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'',<ref name="auto5"/> in which she played the proprietor of a restaurant called the Hamburger Queen and a boarding house called Pension Stardust.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jaynecounty.com/city.html|title=Jayne County - Man Enough To Be A Woman|website=www.jaynecounty.com}}</ref> Two of her co-stars were Jayne County and Tara O'Hara.<ref name="auto5"/><ref name="auto"/> The film was first screened as part of a punk rock roadshow.<ref name="auto5"/> Shortly after the film was finished, Stardust completed her gender affirmation with surgery to complement the hormones she had been taking for years.<ref name="auto7"/>
Stardust founded her own club, Angie's Nightclub, in Schmidts Tivoli Theatre in Hamburg, Germany in 1990.<ref name="auto1">{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref name="auto4">{{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}}</ref> By 1994, the venue was regarded as "one of the best places to hear free-form jazz."<ref name="auto4"/> Stardust performed nightly until 1999<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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''.<ref name="auto1"/> As of 2020, Stardust's club is still extant and operates under the same name.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tivoli.de/gastronomie/nachtclub-angies/|title=Angie's | Nachtclub im Schmidts Tivoli | Livemusik Tanzen Cocktails|website=tivoli.de}}</ref>
==Discography== {|class="wikitable" !Year !Album type !Title |- |1994 |CD |''Inside Me''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Me-Angie-Stardust/dp/B00009CBCQ|title=Inside Me|date=March 8, 2010|via=Amazon}}</ref> |- |1993 |Single/EP |''Do It Yourself''<ref name="auto3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1140820-Angie-Stardust|title=Angie Stardust|website=Discogs}}</ref> |- |1992 |Backing vocals for Joy Peters |Joy Peters's ''Different Colours''<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |1990 |Single |''Lady Madame''<ref name="auto3"/> |- |}
==Filmography== {|class="wikitable" !Date !Film |- |2016 |''Welcome All Sexes: 30 Jahre Teddy Awards'' |- |1987 |''Crazy Boys: A Handful of Fun''<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |1983 |''City of Lost Souls''<ref>{{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}}</ref> |- |1981 |''Die Alptraumfrau'' |- |1970 | ''Perrak'' |- |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:LGBTQ people from Virginia Category:American drag queens Category:African-American drag queens Category:African-American musicians Category:American transgender musicians Category:American transgender actresses Category:African-American LGBTQ people Category:Transgender drag performers Category:People from Harlem Category:Drag performers from New York City Category:Transgender women singers Category:American expatriates in Germany Category:Entertainers from Hamburg Category:People from Norfolk, Virginia Category:Drag performers from Virginia Category:1939 births Category:2007 deaths Category:American LGBTQ women singers Category:Drag performers from New York (state)