Tell us a little about yourself.
I was born and raised in Dallas Texas. My grandmother and my great-grandmother raised me. After graduating high school, I got into retail. I always knew I wanted to be in fashion. I always picked out my own clothes. When I got a job I started buying my own clothes. That's how I got into fashion. My first job was at Sanger Harris and I started selling running shoes. Then within probably about eight months, I was already an assistant manager, stayed there for three and a half years, and then moved to Macy's. By that time, I had really started performing and doing drag.
When did you come out?
I've never been in a closet. My family always knew, and the ones that accepted me, accepted me, like my great-grandmother and my grandmother. The ones that didn't, the rest of the family, it didn't matter. They always taught me to be myself. No one ever bothered me. And I have to say, I was lucky on that turn.
How did you start performing?
While I was working at Sanger Harris, I met this young man who had done female impersonation in Alabama and we were sitting around talking one night and he said, who do you remind me of? I said, who? Grace Jones. He goes since we're going out for New Year's, why don't you dress up as her and see how the crowd receives you? I was like, sure. I was amazed at how many people thought I was her.
When you first start doing this, I always encourage any person who wants to do this and do it and be serious about it, to start doing amateur nights. I was baptized by fire. I did not know what I was doing, so I entered a pageant. You don't enter pageants until you're well established and what you're doing and I walked into the dressing room and I was like, Oh my God. And I'm gonna tell you, the girls were mean. Oh, they were mean to me. They wouldn't even give me a place to sit down in the dressing room. So I started entering amateur nights, and it got to the point where I was doing Grace Jones all the time she was the first character that I ever did, and loved her.
I had met some friends of mine while I was doing it. They wanted to go to Starck Club one night. It was Grace Jones' last concert at Starck Club before they closed. The only way we'll take you if you got to dress up like her. When we get to the Starck Club, the line is wrapped around the building. And I grabbed the guys and I proceeded to go in like I own the place. GraceJones comes out and she's doing her shtick, and I am on the dance floor sitting on a stool, and she spots me, stops, stops, looks at me, and gives me a thumbs up. I just died and went to heaven. I got the ultimate compliment, I felt.
How Shavon DeMarco Got Her Mom
The person who started me, he said I have the perfect drag mom for you. Bronzie DeMarco and she's in Alabama, and y'all remind me so much of her. I took on her name, DeMarco. I started out using the name Simone. But there was another entertainer named Simone. How I came up with my name, there was a soap opera back in the day called Ryan's Home. There was a lady named Siobhan. I looked at the spelling of the name and went, hmm, I don't think people will be able to pronounce that because of the spelling. So that's how I changed my name and got Shavon DeMarco. I had not met Bronzie until right before I moved to Las Vegas. I found him on Facebook, and I said, I am your child. He hadn't met me, and he looked at the pictures of me he said oh my god yes you are my child and immediately embraced me. He's been so supportive, and he watches the things that I do.
He is a legend in the South. During his era, when you went out in drag, you couldn't go to the club in drag. You had to either paint there at the club and if you were caught in public, you had to have at least two male garments underneath your costumes or you would go to jail. They would just obey until they had their own Stonewall riots and fought back. I say that, to acknowledge those are the shoulders that I stand on. It's important for us to learn that history because the kids nowadays don't know what the history is, because they're too busy creating their own. You have to know where you come from in order to survive.
There's a few of them that you would see in the club one week and the very next week, they were gone. There are so many entertainers that I have worked with that we've lost. When I was in Delaware, Mary Mahogany and I talked on the porch one night, and she asked me. Have you seen this person? Oh, honey. They're gone. We figured out that out of our generation, there were five of us left in the Dallas area.
I'm proud to say that I'm part of that. I survived that, and I tell these kids you should be uplifting each other, loving each other, and honoring each other. Because the queens can get catty and get messy, that's not what we're here for. Because if you knew what we had to come through to get you here and see you through this, you wouldn't be doing that, darling.
What has kept you in drag all these years, what's your favorite part of it?
The performances. I love performing. I was recently asked, what keeps you going? The passion for it. The fact that I like it. When it becomes, I love it, when it becomes a chore or I start feeling like, well I don't have to get a minute, it's time for me to hang it up. I said, but I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet.
There's one entertainer that I know, he's still going and he's 75 years old. He's still in Texas, and he looks amazing. So it's not like it's work when you have that passion for it. But when it becomes a chore, it's time to hang up. I'm deciding now when it's time for me to stop hanging up my drag, I'm gonna start developing new talent.
How long does it take you to get into your makeup and hair and everything?I have my own special way of doing things, but I can get ready in 15 minutes if I want. Normally I like to take my time. If I have to be there at 10, I'll start getting myself ready by 6 o'clock that way I can sit back and relax if I want to have coffee, then head out. Sometimes, I get more compliments when I do a 15-minute face than when I spend a lot of time doing makeup.
Your fashion influences, who do you like? Who are your favorite designers?
I got my love for fashion from my grandmother. She was an amazing dresser. When she wasn't home, I'd be in her closet putting together things for her. And she got to the point where she was like, okay, well, I guess I'll just let you pick out my clothes for me. I would dress her and my great-grandmother for church. They loved it. That's where my sense of fashion came in, but my major influences have been Diane Carroll, I love that woman. Oh, I loved her. She was the first celebrity I fell in love with. Her sense of style, the way she carried herself.
What's your favorite song? What really brings you alive and brings out the best Shavon?
Anything that I do. I will only do a song if I feel it. That's another thing about being out here in Vegas. It's allowed me to expand my repertoire and horizons and take chances at different things. Because back in Texas, I was known for Grace Jones. I was known for Whitney Houston. Out here, I'm able to just go for it. Tonight, I'm doing Diana Ross. I don't do Ross. But I found a song that I like, Take Me Higher, and I'm gonna give it all I got.
What's your favorite outfit of all time?
It was the very first evening gown that I paid for, that I bought. It was made by Riazzi and it was red, gold, and silver. I can remember when I wore that, people were like, oh my God, that looks great. I got more compliments on that dress until it was stolen than I have any other dress. I loved it. Loved it. That was my best one.
What do you see on the horizon for the drag-performing community?
I see the audience expanding. I see a lot more variety. We have drag kings performing with us, which we did not have back in the 80s. You're seeing a lot more variety in comedy, outlandish drag, and serious drag. I think it will only continue to go to a whole new level at their talent. And I'm finding too that all of these different ways of doing it are being well-received. I think that type of performance it's never going to go out of style.
What does Pride mean to you? And what are your hopes for the future in terms of the community going forward?
Pride means togetherness for me. Honoring each other, loving each other, supporting each other, and uplifting each other. That's what pride means to me. When I first moved here, I missed the first two gay pride celebrations. When I finally got to one, it was the most amazing experience, the togetherness and the fact that people came from different surrounding states to support it. It was so freeing and it was amazing. It was one of the best times I've had in my life. Out here, it was a different environment. It was just one of the best prides I've ever seen and that's what I love about it.
How can people interact with your work if they don't live immediately in Las Vegas?
Social media—I have to get better at that. I'm still learning. When I first started, we didn't have all this. So I'm just now starting to learn how to get on social media and do the advertising and the work. I try to inspire people. I try to say something, and it helps.
You can follow Shavon DeMarco's work on Youtube and Facebook.
