Divine (performer)
Divine | |
---|---|
Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |
Resting place | Prospect Hill Cemetery, Towson, Maryland, U.S. |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1966–1988 |
Website | divineofficial |
Harris Glenn Milstead (October 19, 1945 – March 7, 1988), better known by the stage name Divine, was an American actor, singer, and drag queen. Closely associated with independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland to a conservative middle-class family, Milstead developed an early interest in drag while working as a women's hairdresser. By the mid-1960s he had embraced the city's countercultural scene and befriended Waters, who gave him the name "Divine" and the tagline of "the most beautiful woman in the world, almost." Along with his friend David Lochary, Milstead joined Waters' acting troupe, the Dreamlanders, and adopted female roles for their experimental short films Roman Candles (1966), Eat Your Makeup (1968), and The Diane Linkletter Story (1969). Again in drag, he took a lead role in both of Waters' early full-length movies, Mondo Trasho (1969) and Multiple Maniacs (1970), the latter of which attracted press attention for the group. Milstead next starred in Waters' Pink Flamingos (1972), which was a hit on the U.S. midnight movie circuit, became a cult classic, and established Milstead's fame in the American counterculture.
After starring as the lead role in Waters' next film, Female Trouble (1974), Divine moved on to theater, appearing in several avant-garde performances alongside San Francisco drag collective, The Cockettes. He followed this with a performance in Tom Eyen's play Women Behind Bars and its sequel, The Neon Woman. Continuing his cinematic work, he starred in two more of Waters' films, Polyester (1981) and Hairspray (1988), the latter of which represented his breakthrough into mainstream cinema and for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male. Independent of Waters, he also appeared in several other films, such as Lust in the Dust (1985) and Trouble in Mind (1985), seeking to diversify his repertoire by playing male roles. In 1981, Divine embarked on a career in the disco industry by producing a number of Hi-NRG tracks, most of which were written by Bobby Orlando. He achieved international chart success with hits like "You Think You're a Man", "I'm So Beautiful", and "Walk Like a Man", all performed in drag.
Described by
Early life
Childhood: 1945–1965
Divine was born as Harris Glenn Milstead on October 19, 1945, at Women's Hospital in
By the time of Divine's birth in 1945, the Milsteads were affluent and socially conservative Baptists.[9] Describing his upbringing, Divine recollected: "I was an only child in, I guess, your upper middle-class American family. I was probably your American spoiled brat."[9] His parents lavished almost anything that he wanted on him, including food, and he became overweight, a condition he lived with for the rest of his life.[10] On his request, his parents and friends called him by his middle name, Glenn, to distinguish him from his father.[11]
At age 12, Milstead and his parents moved to the Baltimore suburb of
John Waters and first film roles: 1966–1968
Milstead developed a large coterie of friends, among them
Divine. That's my name. It's the name John [Waters] gave me. I like it. That's what everybody calls me now, even my close friends. Not many of them call me Glenn at all anymore, which I don't mind. They can call me whatever they want. They call me fatso, and they call me asshole, and I don't care. You always change your name when you're in the show business. Divine has stuck as my name. Did you ever look it up in the dictionary? I won't even go into it. It's unbelievable.
— Divine, 1973[26]
Waters was an aspiring filmmaker, intent on making "the trashiest motion pictures in cinema history".[27] Many of his friends, a group which came to be known as "the Dreamlanders" (and who included Divine, Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce and Mink Stole), appeared in some of his low-budget productions, filmed on Sunday afternoons.[27] Following the production of his first short film, Hag in a Black Leather Jacket (1964), Waters began production of a second work, Roman Candles (1966). This film was influenced by the pop artist Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls (1966), and consisted of three 8-millimeter movies played simultaneously side by side. Roman Candles was the first film to star Divine, in this instance in drag as a smoking nun. It featured the Dreamlanders modeling shoplifted clothes and performing various unrelated activities.[27][28][29] Being both a short film and of an avant-garde nature, Roman Candles never received widespread distribution, instead holding its premiere at the annual Mt. Vernon Flower Mart in Baltimore, which had become popular with "elderly dames, young faggots and hustlers, and of course a whole bunch of hippies".[30] Waters went on to screen it at several local venues alongside Kenneth Anger's short film Eaux d'Artifice (1953).[30]
Waters followed Roman Candles with a third short film,
The Diane Linkletter Story, Mondo Trasho, and Multiple Maniacs: 1969–1970
Divine appeared in Waters's next short film, The Diane Linkletter Story (1969), which was initially designed to be a test for a new sound camera. A black comedy that carried on in Waters's tradition of making "bad taste" films to shock conventional American society, The Diane Linkletter Story was based upon the true story of Diane Linkletter, the daughter of media personality Art Linkletter, who had committed suicide earlier that year. Her death had led to a flurry of media interest and speculation, with various sources erroneously claiming that she had done so under the influence of the psychedelic LSD. Waters's dramatized version starred Divine in the leading role as the teenager who rebels against her conservative parents after they try to break up her relationship with hippie boyfriend Jim, before consuming a large quantity of LSD and committing suicide. Although screened at the first Baltimore Film Festival, the film was not publicly released at the time, largely for legal reasons.[31][37]
Soon after the production of The Diane Linkletter Story, Waters began filming a full-length motion picture, Mondo Trasho, starring Divine as one of the main characters, an unnamed blonde woman who drives around town and runs over a hitchhiker.[38][39] In one scene, an actor was required to walk along a street naked, which was a crime in the state of Maryland at the time, leading to the arrest of Waters and most of the actors associated with the film; Divine escaped, having speedily driven away from the police when they arrived to carry out the arrests.[40] In their review of the film, the Los Angeles Free Press exclaimed that "The 300-pound (140 kg) sex-symbol Divine is undoubtedly some sort of discovery."[41]
In 1970, Divine abandoned work as a hairdresser, opening up a vintage clothing store in
In 1970, Divine played the role of Lady Divine, the operator of an exhibit known as The Cavalcade of Perversion who turns to murdering visitors in Waters's film
Rise to fame
Pink Flamingos: 1971–1972
Following his San Francisco stay, Divine returned to Baltimore and participated in Waters's next film Pink Flamingos. Designed by Waters to be "an exercise in poor taste",[50] the film featured Divine as Babs Johnson, a woman who claims to be "the filthiest person alive" and who is forced to prove her right to the title from challengers, Connie (Mink Stole) and Raymond Marble (David Lochary).[51] In one scene, the Marbles send Babs a turd in a box as a birthday present, and to enact this scene, Divine defecated into the box the night before.[52] Filmed in a hippie commune in Phoenix, Maryland, the cast members spent much of the time smoking cigarettes and marijuana and taking amphetamines. All of the scenes had been heavily rehearsed beforehand.[53] The final scene in the film proved particularly infamous, involving Babs eating fresh dog feces; Divine later told a reporter, "I followed that dog around for three hours just zooming in on its asshole", waiting for it to empty its bowels so that they could film the scene.[54] The scene became one of the most notable moments of Divine's acting career, and he later complained of people thinking that "I run around doing it all the time. I've received boxes of dog shit – plastic dog shit. I have gone to parties where people just sit around and talk about dog shit because they think it's what I want to talk about."[54] In reality, he remarked, he was not a coprophile but only ate excrement that one time because it was in the script.[54][55]
The film premiered in March 1972
While keeping his involvement with Waters's underground filmmaking a secret from his parents, Divine continued relying on them financially, charging them for expensive parties that he held and writing bad checks. After he charged them for a major repair to his car in 1972, his parents confiscated it from him and told him that they would not continue to support him in such a manner. In retaliation, he came by their house the following day, collected his two pet dogs and then disappeared, not seeing or speaking with them for the next nine years. Instead, he sent them over fifty postcards from across the world, informing them that he was fine, but on none did he leave a return address.[61] Frances and Harris Milstead retired soon after and moved to Florida at the advice of Harris's doctor, who prescribed the southern state's warmer weather as being beneficial for Harris's muscular dystrophy.[62]
Theatre work and Female Trouble: 1973–1978
When the filming of Pink Flamingos finished, Divine returned to San Francisco, where he and Mink Stole starred in a number of small-budget plays at the Palace Theater as part of drag troupe
In 1974, Divine returned to Baltimore to film Waters's next motion picture, Female Trouble, in which he played the lead role. Divine's character, teenage delinquent Dawn Davenport, embraces the idea that crime is art and is eventually executed in the electric chair for her violent behavior.[72][73] Waters claimed that the character of Dawn had been partly based on the mutual friend who had introduced him to Divine, Carol Wernig, while the costumes and make-up were once more designed by Van Smith to create the desired "trashy, slutty look".[74] In the film, Divine did his own stunts, including the trampoline scene, for which he had to undertake a number of trampolining lessons.[75] Divine also played his first on-screen male role in the film, Earl Peterson, and Waters included a scene during which these two characters had sexual intercourse as a joke on the fact that both characters were played by the same actor. Female Trouble proved to be Divine's favorite of his films, because it both allowed him to develop his character and to finally play a male role, something he had always felt important because he feared being typecast as a female impersonator.[75][76][77] Divine was also responsible for singing the theme tune for Female Trouble, although it was never released as a single.[78] Divine remained proud of the film, although it received a mixed critical reception.[79]
In 1977, Divine co-starred in the revue Restless Underwear, alongside Canadian rock band Rough Trade, which played at Massey Hall in Toronto. In 1980, the revue appeared at the Beacon Theatre on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Bernard Jay, Divine's manager, said that it was a "gigantic disaster", as Divine did not have as large a part in the revue as audience members expected.[80]
Divine was unable to appear in Waters's next feature,
Impressed with Divine's performance in Women Behind Bars, playwright Tom Eyen decided to write a new play that would feature him in a starring role. The result was The Neon Woman, a story set in 1962 featuring Divine as Flash Storm, the female owner of a Baltimore strip club. It played at the Hurrah! club in New York City before moving on to the Alcazar Theatre in San Francisco. Divine remained very proud of the work, seeing it as evidence that his acting skills were coming to wider recognition, and his performances were attended by such celebrities as Eartha Kitt, Elton John, and Liza Minnelli.[86][87][88] It was during the New York leg of the play's tour that Divine befriended Jay Bennett; they subsequently began renting an apartment together on 58th Street. In the city, Divine assembled a group of friends that came to be known as his "New York family": designer Larry LeGaspi, makeup artist Conrad Santiago, Vincent Nasso, and dresser Frankie Piazza. While there, he frequented the famous club Studio 54, having a love of partying and club culture.[89]
Early disco work and Polyester: 1979–1983
Divine eventually decided to abandon his agent, Robert Hussong, and replace him with his English friend Bernard Jay. Jay suggested that with his love of clubs, Divine could obtain work performing in them; as a result, Divine first appeared in 1979 at a
That same year, Divine decided to get back in contact with his estranged parents. His mother had learned of his cinematic and disco career after reading an article about the films of John Waters in
He also appeared in films by Rosa von Praunheim, for example in 1979 in Tally Brown, New York. Divine was friend with both (the director and Tally Brown).
Later life
Later disco work, Lust in the Dust, and Hairspray: 1984–1988
Divine's career as a disco singer continued and his records had sold well, but he and his management felt that they were not receiving their share of the profits. They went to court against Orlando and his company, O-Records, and successfully nullified their contract. After signing with Barry Evangeli's company, InTune Music Limited, Divine released several new disco records, including "You Think You're a Man" and "I'm So Beautiful", which were both co-produced by Pete Waterman of the then-up-and-coming UK production team of Stock Aitken Waterman.[102] In the United Kingdom, Divine sang his hit "You Think You're A Man" – a song which he had dedicated to his parents – on BBC television show Top of the Pops. He gained a devout follower, Briton Mitch Whitehead, a man who declared himself Divine's "number 1 fan", tattooing himself with images of his idol and eventually aiding Bernard Jay in setting up for Divine's show onstage.[103] In London, Divine also befriended drag comedy act Paul O'Grady, with Jay helping O'Grady obtain his first bookings in the U.S.[104]
The next Divine film,
After finishing his work on Trouble in Mind, Divine again became involved with a John Waters project, the film Hairspray (1988). Set in Baltimore during the 1960s, Hairspray revolved around self-proclaimed "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local television show and rallies against racial segregation. As he had in Waters's earlier film Female Trouble, Divine took on two roles in the film, one of which was female and the other male. The first of these, Edna Turnblad, was Tracy's loving mother; Divine later noted that with this character he could not be accurately described as a drag queen, proclaiming "What drag queen would allow herself to look like this? I look like half the women from Baltimore."[109] His second character in the film was that of the racist television station owner Arvin Hodgepile. In one interview, Divine admitted that he had hoped to play both the role of mother and daughter in Hairspray, but that the producers had been "a bit leery" and chose Ricki Lake for the latter role instead.[110] Divine went on to state his opinion on Lake, jokingly telling the interviewer that "She is nineteen and delightful. I hate her."[110] In reality they had become good friends while working together on set.[111] Reviews of the film were predominantly positive, with Divine in particular being singled out for praise; several commentators expressed their opinion that the film marked Divine's breakthrough into mainstream cinema.[112] He subsequently took his mother to the film's premiere in the Miami Film Festival before she once more accompanied him to the Baltimore premiere, this time also with several of his other relatives. After the screening, a party was held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, where Frances Milstead granted an impromptu interview to the English film critic Jonathan Ross, a friend and fan of Divine's.[113]
Divine's final film role was in the low-budget comedy horror Out of the Dark, filmed and produced in Los Angeles with the same crew as Lust in the Dust. Appearing in only one scene within the film, he played the character of Detective Langella, a foul-mouthed policeman investigating the murders of a killer clown. Out of the Dark was released the year after Divine's death.[114] Divine had become a well-known celebrity throughout the 1980s, appearing on American television chat shows such as Late Night with David Letterman, Thicke of the Night, and The Merv Griffin Show to promote both his music and his film appearances. Divine-themed merchandise was produced, including greeting cards and The Simply Divine Cut-Out Doll Book. Portraits of Divine were painted by several famous artists, including David Hockney and Andy Warhol, both of whom were known for their works which dealt with popular culture.[115]
Death: 1988
On March 7, 1988, three weeks after Hairspray was released nationwide, Divine was staying at the Regency Plaza Suites Hotel in Los Angeles. He was scheduled to tape a guest appearance the following day as Uncle Otto on the Fox network's television series Married... with Children in the second season wrap-up episode.[6][116] After spending all day at Sunset Gower Studios for rehearsals, Divine returned to his hotel that evening, where he dined with friends at the hotel restaurant before returning to his room. Shortly before midnight, he died in his sleep, at age 42, of heart failure.[117] His body was discovered by Bernard Jay the following morning, who then sat with the body for the next six hours, alongside three of Divine's other friends. They contacted Thomas Noguchi, the former chief coroner of Los Angeles County, who arranged for removal of the body; Divine's friends were able to prevent the press from taking any photographs of the body as it was being carried out of the hotel.[118][119]
Divine's body was flown back to Maryland and taken to Ruck's Funeral Home in Towson, where a casket was obtained for him. The funeral took place at Prospect Hill Cemetery, where a crowd of hundreds had assembled to pay their respects.[120] The ceremony was conducted by Leland Higginbotham, who had baptized Divine into the Christian faith many years before. John Waters gave a speech and was one of the pallbearers who then carried the casket to its final resting place, next to the grave of Divine's grandmother. Many flowers were left at the grave, including a wreath sent by actress Whoopi Goldberg, which bore the remark "See what happens when you get good reviews."[121][122] Following the funeral, a tribute was held at the Baltimore Governor's Mansion.[123] In the ensuing weeks, the Internal Revenue Service confiscated many of Divine's possessions and auctioned them off, as restitution for unpaid taxes.[124]
Drag persona and performance
Divine: "How much did you pay to get in tonight?"
Audience: "Ten dollars."
Divine: "Well now, that's eight dollars to see the show – and two dollars to fuck me right after. All line up outside the dressing room and I'll be here till Christmas!"
An example of Divine's banter with his audience[125]
After developing a name for himself as a female impersonator known for "trashy" behavior in his early John Waters films, Divine capitalized on this image by appearing at his musical performances in his drag persona. In this role, he was described by his manager Bernard Jay, as displaying "Trash. Filth. Obscenity. In bucket-loads".[126] Divine described his stage performances as "just good, dirty fun, and if you find it offensive, honey, don't join in."[125] As a part of his performance, he constantly swore at the audience, often using his signature line of "fuck you very much." Excited audience members would frequently come onstage, where he would fondle their buttocks, groins, and breasts, to the approval of the audience.[127] Divine and his stage act proved particularly popular among gay audiences, and he appeared at some of the world's biggest gay clubs, such as Central London's Heaven. According to Divine's manager Bernard Jay, this was not because Divine himself was gay, but because the gay community "openly and proudly identified with the determination of the female character Divine".[128]
Divine became increasingly known for outlandish stunts onstage, each time trying to outdo what he had done before. At one performance in London's
Personal life
During his childhood and adolescence, Divine was called "Glenn" by his friends and family; as an adult, he used the stage name "Divine" as his personal name, telling one interviewer that both "Divine" and "Glenn Milstead" were "both just names. Glenn is the name I was brought up with, Divine is the name I've been using for the past 23 years. I guess it's always Glenn and it's always Divine. Do you mean the character Divine or the person Divine? You see, it gets very complicated. There's the Divine you're talking to now and there's the character Divine, which is just something I do to make a living. She doesn't really exist at all."[135] At one point he had the name "Divine" officially recognized, as it appeared on his passport, and in keeping with his personal use of the name, his close friends nicknamed him "Divy".[136]
Divine identified as a
Divine's mother, Frances Milstead, remarked that while Divine "was blessed with many talents and abilities, he could be very moody and demanding".[144] She noted that while he was "incredibly kind and generous", he always wanted to get things done the way that he wanted, and would "tune you out if you displeased him".[144] She noted that in most interviews, he came across as "a very shy and private person".[145] Divine's Dutch friends gave him two bulldogs in the early 1980s, on which he doted, naming them Beatrix and Claus after Queen Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus of the Netherlands. On numerous occasions he would have his photograph taken with them and sometimes use these images for record covers and posters.[146] Divine suffered from problems with obesity from childhood, caused by his love of food, and in later life his hunger was increased by his daily use of marijuana, an addiction that he publicly admitted to.[147][148] According to Bernard Jay, in Divine's final years, when his disco career was coming to an end and he was struggling to find acting jobs, he felt suicidal and threatened to kill himself on several occasions.[149]
As to his gender identity, Waters said, "People [think] Divine — they always think wrong — was trans. Divine never dressed as a woman except when he was working. He had no desire to be a woman... He didn't want to pass as a woman; he wanted to pass as a monster. He was thought up to scare hippies. And that's what he wanted to do. He wanted to be Godzilla. Well, he wanted to be Elizabeth Taylor and Godzilla put together."[150]
Legacy and influence
The New York Times said of Milstead's 1980s films: "Those who could get past the unremitting weirdness of Divine's performance discovered that the actor/actress had genuine talent, including a natural sense of comic timing and an uncanny gift for slapstick."[151] In a letter to the newspaper, Paul Thornquist described him as "one of the few truly radical and essential artists of the century... [who] was an audacious symbol of man's quest for liberty and freedom".[152] People magazine described him as "the Goddess of Gross, the Punk Elephant, the Big Bad Mama of the Midnight Movies... [and] a Miss Piggy for the blissfully depraved".[1] Following his death, fans of Divine visited Prospect Hill Cemetery to pay their respects. In what has become a tradition, fans have been known to leave makeup, food, and graffiti on his grave in memoriam; Waters claims that some fans have sexual intercourse on his grave, which he believes Divine would love.[124][151]
Divine has left an influence on a number of musicians. During the mid-1980s, the androgynous performer
Divine was an inspiration for
Publications
Divine's manager and friend Bernard Jay wrote a book titled Not Simply Divine!, published in 1992 by Virgin Books. Admitting that he was "immensely proud" of Divine and the cause which he "strived for", Jay noted in the book's introduction that he wrote the work because he felt that Divine deserved a "memorial" that would act as a "record for posterity".[158] He insisted that Not Simply Divine! was "not the bitter revenge of an unappreciated manager, eager now to get his share of his praise", but that equally it was not "a gushing homage" designed to paint Divine as "both saintly and legendary".[158] He expressed his hope that the book shines light on the "shades of grey" between the man and his female persona, portraying a "warts and all" picture.[158] The book was criticized by Divine's mother, Frances Milstead, who accused Jay of writing a "mean-spirited" work that provided an incorrect image of her son.[159] Not Simply Divine! was also criticized by Divine's friend Greg Gorman, who remarked that, "there was so much hostility and so much meanspiritedness in the way Divine was portrayed in the book, that it was just 180 degrees from who he was".[160]
Frances Milstead subsequently cowrote her own book about Divine, entitled My Son Divine, with Kevin Heffernan and Steve Yeager, which was published by Alyson Books in 2001.]
Filmography
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1966 | Roman Candles | Party Guest / Woman with Scarf | |
1968 | Eat Your Makeup | Jacqueline Kennedy | |
1969 | The Diane Linkletter Story | Diane Linkletter | |
Mondo Trasho | Divine | ||
1970 | Multiple Maniacs | Lady Divine | |
1972 | Pink Flamingos | Divine / Babs Johnson | |
1974 | Female Trouble | Dawn Davenport / Earl Peterson | |
1979 | Tally Brown, New York | Himself | Documentary |
1980 | The Alternative Miss World | Guest of Honour / Interviewer | Filmed in 1978 |
1981 | Polyester | Francine Fishpaw | |
1985 | Lust in the Dust | Rosie Velez | |
Trouble in Mind | Hilly Blue | ||
Divine Waters | Himself | Documentary | |
1987 | Tales from the Darkside | Chia Fung | 1 episode ("Seymourlama") |
1988 | Hairspray | Edna Turnblad / Arvin Hodgepile | Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male[164] |
1989 | Out of the Dark | Det. Langella | Released posthumously |
1998 | Divine Trash | Himself | Archive footage used for documentary |
2000 | In Bad Taste | ||
2002 | The Cockettes | ||
2013 | I Am Divine |
Source: Divine at
Discography
Albums
Year | Title | Record company |
---|---|---|
1982 | Jungle Jezebel (AKA My First Album) | O Records[165] / Metronome[166] |
1984 | T Shirts and Tight Blue Jeans (Non Stop Dance Remix) | Break Records[167] |
Compilation albums
Year | Title | Record company |
---|---|---|
1984 | The Story So Far | Bellaphon[168] |
1988 | Maid in England | Bellaphon[169] |
CD reissues
Year | Title | Record company |
---|---|---|
1988 | The Story So Far | Receiver Records, KNOB 3 |
1989 | The Best of & The Rest Of | Action Replay Records, CDAR 1007 |
1990 | Maid in England | ZYX Records, CD 9066 |
1991 | The Best of Divine: Native Love | "O" Records, HTCD 16-2 |
1993 | The 12" Collection | Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-7098 |
1994 | Jungle Jezebel | "O" Records, HTCD 6609 |
1994 | The Cream of Divine | Pickwick Group Ltd., PWKS 4228 |
1994 | Born to Be Cheap | Anagram Records, CDMGRAM 84 |
1995 | Shoot Your Shot | Mastertone Multimedia Ltd., AB 3013 |
1996 | The Remixes | Avex UK, AVEXCD 29 |
1996 | The Originals | Avex UK, AVEXCD 30 |
1997 | The Best of Divine | Delta Music, 21 024 |
2005 | Greatest Hits | Unidisc Music Inc., SPLK-8004 |
2005 | The Greatest Hits | Forever Gold, FG351 |
2009 | Greatest Hits: The Originals and the Remixes | Dance Street Records, DST 77226-2 |
2011 | Essential Divine | Right Trackt Records |
Singles
Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUS [170] |
AUT [171] |
GER
[172] |
NLD
[173] |
NZ [174] |
SWI [175] |
UK
[176] |
US Dance [177] | |||
1981 | "Born to Be Cheap" / "The Name Game" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single. B-side also known as "Gang Bang". |
1982 | "Native Love (Step by Step)" / "Alphabet Rap" | — | — | — | 28 | — | — | - | 21 | Jungle Jezebel / My First Album |
"Shoot Your Shot" / "Jungle Jezebel" | — | 9 | 15 | 7 | — | 8 | - | 39 | ||
1983 | "Love Reaction" | — | — | 55 | 25 | — | — | 65 | — | The Story So Far |
"Shake It Up" | — | — | 26 | 13 | — | — | 82 | — | ||
1984 | "You Think You're a Man" / "Give It Up" | 8 | — | 32 | — | 27 | 9 | 16 | — | |
"I'm So Beautiful" / "Show Me Around" | — | — | 38 | — | 48 | — | 52 | — | ||
"T Shirts and Tight Blue Jeans" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
1985 | "Walk Like a Man" | 75 | — | 52 | — | — | 28 | 23 | — | Maid in England |
"Twistin' the Night Away" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 47 | — | ||
"Hard Magic" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 87 | — | ||
1987 | "Little Baby" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
"Hey You!" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
1989 | "Shout It Out" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Posthumous non-album single. Recorded in 1983. |
- Besides aforementioned singles, Divine also recorded such songs as "Female Trouble", "Kick Your Butt" and "Psychedelic Shack", making a total of 22 different tracks.
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Darrach 1988.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 28.
- ^ Jay 1993, p. 13.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 7–8.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d Kaltenbach 2009.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 8–9.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 9.
- ^ a b Jay 1993, p. 14.
- ^ Jay 1993, pp. 14–15.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 10.
- ^ a b Jay 1993, p. 15.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 27.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 24.
- ^ a b Jay 1993, p. 17.
- ^ a b Jay 1993, pp. 18–19.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 4.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 35, 40.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 2, 35, 44.
- ^ Waters 2005, pp. 47, 52.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 35.
- ^ Waters 2005, p. 148.
- ^ a b Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 45.
- ^ Waters 2005, pp. 41–42, 150.
- ^ a b Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 46.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 1.
- ^ a b c Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Jay 1993, pp. 23–24.
- ^ Waters 2005, p. 49.
- ^ a b Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 47.
- ^ a b c Jay 1993, p. 25.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Jay 1993, p. 21.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 59.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 49.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 50.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Jay 1993, pp. 26–27.
- ^ Waters 2005, p. 54.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Waters 2005, p. 61.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 53–54.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 55.
- ^ Waters 2005, p. 67.
- ^ Jay 1993, pp. 28–31.
- ^ a b Jay 1993, pp. 27–28.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, p. 57.
- ^ Waters 2005, pp. 62–64.
- ^ Milstead, Heffernan & Yeager 2001, pp. 57–59.
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- ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIAbetween mid-1983 and June 19, 1988.
- ^ "Divine – Discography". austriancharts.at. Austrian Charts Online. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
- ^ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts: "Divine" (singles)". GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on November 2, 2015. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
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- ^ "Divine – Discography". hitparade.ch. Swiss Charts Online. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
- ^ "Official Charts > Divine". The Official UK Charts Company. October 8, 1983. Retrieved November 2, 2015.
- ^ Divine – Billboard Singles AllMusic. Retrieved June 10, 2010.
Bibliography
- Curley, Mallory (2010). A Cookie Mueller Encyclopedia. Randy Press.
- Darrach, Brad (March 21, 1988). "Death Comes to a Quiet Man Who Made Drag Queen History as Divine". People. Vol. 29, no. 11.
- ISBN 978-009947041-0.
- Gamson, Joshua (2005). The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the 70s in San Francisco. New York City: Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-7250-1.
- Jay, Bernard (1993). Not Simply Divine!. London: Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-86369-740-1.
- Kaltenbach, Chris (March 24, 2009). "Frances Milstead, mother of Divine, dies at 88". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 31, 2009.[permanent dead link]
- Milstead, Frances; Heffernan, Kevin; Yeager, Steve (2001). My Son Divine. Los Angeles and New York: Alyson Books. ISBN 978-1-55583-594-1.
- O'Grady, Paul (2012). Still Standing: The Savage Years. London: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-593-06939-4.
- Rubenstein, Hal (February 1988). "Interview with Divine". Interview. New York City: Brant Publications. Retrieved May 30, 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-56025-698-4.
External links
- Official website
- Divine at IMDb
- Divine at AllMovie
- Divine at AllMusic
- The Divine webpage
- Divine on MTV.com