Jake Shears is always down to have a kiki… but he might be hard pressed to find an empty space in his calendar. As the debut album from the Scissor Sisters –– his groundbreaking and quirky pop outfit from the early aughts –– celebrates its 20th anniversary, the 45-year-old is racking up milestones of his own.
In the past year, Shears dropped his sophomore solo record Last Man Dancing, launched a queer music podcast that’s become essential listening, and dazzled audiences as the emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club on London’s West End. Oh yeah, and he’s also working on a Tammy Faye-centered Broadway musical with none other than Sir Elton John. How many hours in the day does he have?!
“I don’t know if there’s anything more humanly possible that I can do,” he recently told Advocate. Nevertheless, seeing the fruits of his creative labor has been a high only matched by performing for sold-out audiences every night. As he summed it up for KCRW, “I love to host a party. That’s why I love performing. I love playing shows. I love showing people a good time. I love having a good time.”
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Jake Shears has been making euphoric dance music for nearly 20 years; first with the amazing Scissor Sisters and most recently as a successful solo artist. With the release of his new album “Last Man Dancing,” Shears sat down with Queerty’s Senior Editor Johnny Lopez to discuss the “relentless” party record, working with Kylie Minogue, […]
Shears has managed to pack a lifetime’s worth of chapters into the past two decades. While New York’s queer scene was well acquainted with the Arizona-born performer’s flair for fabulousness as a writer for Paper magazine and go-go dancer, it was his time fronting the Scissor Sisters that placed him on the mainstream map.
With glam rock sensibilities (and outfits), Shears and the crew shared a sound that was somehow both retro and future-facing, not to mention unabashedly queer. Their shimmering cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb” earned them a Grammy nomination and their self-titled debut record was dubbed the best “gay album” of all-time by Attitude in 2006.
Furthermore, 2012’s “Let’s Have a Kiki” (which even got the Glee treatment) solidified their impact on LGBTQ+ culture –– and Pride party playlists ad nauseam –– leading to their eventual hiatus. “This wasn’t what anybody in the band had planned to do,” he told Gay Cities in 2021. “I thought it would be fun to end on a high note.”
In what is perhaps not a total surprise, the naturally histrionic performer found a new home in the theater. He penned music for Tales of the City before making his Broadway debut in Kinky Boots in 2017. Still, his most recent stint as Cabaret‘s master of ceremonies found him in a true sweet spot.
“What’s fun about doing the role is that I get to use all that I know about fronting a band and doing that kind of performance in a show like this,” he told London Theatre. “Making that connection with the audience members right away and immediately guiding them a little bit as to what they’re about to see, is really one of the most exciting things about this.”
His next big theatrical endeavor will be Tammy Faye, which begins previews at Broadway’s Palace Theatre this fall. Despite spending nearly 12 years crafting the show alongside John –– a frequent collaborator from his Scissor Sister days –– Shears admits he still “[has] to kind of pinch myself.”
“To get to be by [Elton] at the piano and get to experience the process of making a body of work with him has been truly thrilling,” he told Advocate.
With as herstoric of a portfolio as Shears’, it’s almost too on-the-nose for him to be educating the masses on LGBTQ+ artists with his Queer the Music podcast. After all, his work is as prolific as Sylvester, Peaches, Rufus Wainwright, and other highlighted performers who have “trail blazed paths towards self expression.”
Thankfully, Shears continues to prove that, time and time again, he understands the assignment.
“I have always tried my best to be unashamedly myself and am grateful that myself and Scissor Sisters have often been credited as queer trailblazers,” he said in a statement, adding, “I think it’s important to begin to talk about what this lineage and legacy [of queer music] is, and start to figure out how, as LGBTQ+ artists, we fit into it together.”
As always, we’re all ears.
