So when someone tells you to “Get Redd” this Summer, they are not wishing you sunburn or heatstroke - they are wishing you a rollicking good time! Without further adieu here she is, “Right On Track” to stardom, Raquel Redd!
RR: I just read your E-mail that said this is your land line and you are going to record this?
MS: Yes.
RR: I am driving to Atlanta right now, is the sound OK?
MS: It’ll work you sound fine. BTW I love that you went to The Berklee College of Music., it’s an amazing place that turns out really good talent.
RR: Yeah, I actually went there by accident (laughs) My High School chorus teacher said I should go there, and I ended up getting a vocal scholarship. I didn’t know what it was until I got there, and then I was like, oh this is kind of a big deal. (laughs)
MS: A lot of my friends who are great musicians went there, it is a big deal! Let’s get into you cross dressing, that seems to come from an artistic place, am I wrong?
RR: Oh no, most definitely it does. It’s a whole different shade of my personality as an artist and a person when I get into drag and come out as Raquel, it’s a lot of fun! I can get away with murder. (laughs)
MS: So, this is performance art for you I take it.
RR: Correct, there is a whole other side to this that is not normally common in the drag world.
MS: When I listened to “Right On Track” I found out a friend of mine, Debby Holiday backed you on it.
RR: Yeah, she was the black girl element that we needed. (laughs)
MS: (laughs) She’s such a game girl, always up for anything.
RR: I love her, she’s really, really cool.
MS: Since you “get away with murder” as Raquel, how did she evolve for you?
RR: It all really happened by accident, I was always going out to the clubs doing boy glam. When I moved to Los Angeles, CA about four years ago I was working at a MAC Cosmetics store. Once I went to work in drag for an event, and I sent a picture of it to a friend of mine, he said: “You need to be doing this”. I’m like, “yeah, yeah, whatever” (laughs) - after that I went out for Halloween in drag, and then other Drag Queens in West Hollywood, invited me to come do shows and stuff, and I think “Wait a minute, I can do this” which was a lot of fun! Then it just kind of snowballed….
MS: Awesome! Your good I actually thought you might be a Tran-sexual from the video footage I saw of you, I wasn’t sure.
RR: You’re not the only one who thought that. I have to tell people it’s all an illusion, no I’m not in transition or on hormones. (laughs) A lot of people want to know how I get my boobs to look real like they do. I tell them that information costs extra (laughs)
MS: Did you hear Lance Bass got taken to task for use of the word Tranny by the way?
RR: Really? People always ask me what they should call me, and Tranny is fine with me it’s just a word and I don’t have time to be offended. (laughs) It says more about the people who are offended by it than it does about anyone else.
MS: I agree with you. So how far do you want to go with your music career?
RR: Music is something I have always loved. I’m taking as it comes right now and having fun with it. The minute I stop having fun I’ll stop doing it. Wherever it takes me, I ‘m really fortunate to have been given the reception I have gotten so early into it. There are a lot of people in West Hollywood still beating the block and trying to get in shows. Here I am being contacted by clubs who are asking me to host shows, so I am very fortunate for that too. For Billboard DJ’s and people like that to take note of my music is pretty awesome, I am very grateful.
“Get Redd” at: www.raquelredd.com
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