WJordana LeSesne, formerly known as 1.8.7, is an American musician and producer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. She now producers and performs as Jordana. She became known in the mid-1990s as an American Drum and Bass producer. The Village Voice described her as being "widely regarded as the top U.S. drum'n'bass producer." Vibe magazine called her "one of the most respected Drum ‘n' Bass producers in the US." In 2015, Jordana was named as one of "20 women who shaped the history of dance music" by the authoritative dance music magazine Mixmag. In 2014, Harriet Magazine named Jordana as one of "12 women in black music history you should know". During the same year, Complex Magazine UK named one of her songs to a list of "36 great American drum & bass tracks". She is transgender and has been out since 1998.
WAlexander James Adams is an American singer, musician and songwriter in the Celtic and World music genres. He blends mythical, fantasy, and traditional themes in performances, switching between instrumental fiddle and songs accompanied by guitar, bodhrán, and fiddle playing. He has also been a popular and influential artist in the field of filk music and won multiple Pegasus awards.
WCalpernia Sarah Addams is an American author, actress, musician and spokesperson and activist for transgender rights and issues.
WAdèle Anderson is an English Olivier Award-nominated singer and actress, best known as one third of the cabaret group Fascinating Aïda.
WAnohni, styled as ANOHNI, is an English-born singer, composer, and visual artist. She was formerly the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.
WAlejandra Ghersi, better known by the stage name Arca, is a Venezuelan record producer, DJ, singer, and songwriter based in Barcelona. She has released four studio albums—Xen (2014), Mutant (2015), Arca (2017) and Kick I (2020)—and has contributed production work to artists such as Björk, Kanye West, FKA twigs, Kelela, and Frank Ocean.
WAlexis Arquette was an American actress, cabaret performer, underground cartoonist, and activist.
WEstelle Asmodelle, formerly known as Estelle Maria Croot, is an Australian model, belly dancer, musician, activist, abstract artist and academic. She became Australia's first legally recognised transgender person registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages Department of New South Wales. In 1986, she was labelled "Australia’s First Sex-Change Pin-up Girl". In 1986 she was said to be the most photographed transgender person in Australia. Asmodelle was a controversial figure in the 1980s and as such her story has also appeared in books as well.
WSam Bettens is a Belgian musician and the lead singer of the Belgian band K's Choice. He is known for his enigmatic, husky voice. Sam is a transgender man.
WMichael David Quattlebaum Jr., better known by the stage name Mykki Blanco, is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist.
WMal Blum is an American songwriter, musician, writer and performer from New York. Blum has released six full-length albums, most recently Pity Boy in 2019.
WChaz Salvatore Bono is an American writer, musician and actor. His parents are entertainers Sonny Bono and Cher, and he became widely known in appearances as a child on their television show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour.
WLynn Breedlove is an American musician, writer, and performer who was born in Oakland, California, United States.
WTona Brown is an American violinist, mezzo-soprano and the first transgender woman to perform at Carnegie Hall. She was the first African American transgender woman to perform for an American president.
WMya Adriene Byrne is an American singer-songwriter falling mostly in the Americana vein, a combination of folk, blues and country music. Based in New York for 13 years, Byrne currently resides in San Francisco and performs solo or with various bands on both coasts. In 2014, Byrne publicly announced her transgender status and transition and has continued to work as a musician and performer.
WMina Caputo is an American singer best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the New York City heavy metal band Life of Agony.
WDave Carter was an American folk music singer-songwriter who described his style as "post-modern mythic American folk music". He was one half of the duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, who were heralded as the new "voice of modern folk music" in the months before Carter's unexpected death in July 2002. They were ranked as number one on the year-end list for "Top Artists" on the Folk Music Radio Airplay Chart for 2001 and 2002, and their popularity has endured in the years following Carter's death. Joan Baez, who went on tour with the duo in 2002, spoke of Carter's songs in the same terms that she once used to promote a young Bob Dylan:"There is a special gift for writing songs that are available to other people, and Dave's songs are very available to me. It's a kind of genius, you know, and Dylan has the biggest case of it. But I hear it in Dave's songs, too.
WRyan Otto Cassata is an American musician, public speaker, writer, filmmaker, and actor. Cassata speaks at high schools and universities on the subject of gender dysphoria, being transgender, bullying and his personal transition from female to male, including top surgery in January 2012, when he was 18 years old. He has made appearances on the Larry King Live Show & The Tyra Banks Show to talk about being transgender. He has performed at LGBT music festivals and has gone on tours across the United States of America. Cassata has performed at popular music venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center, Whisky a Go Go, The Saint, The Bitter End, SideWalk Cafe, Turf Club (venue) and Bowery Poetry Club. Cassata won a date on Warped Tour 2013 through the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands online competition and performed on the Acoustic Basement Stage on June 21, 2013. Cassata also won a date on Warped Tour 2015 through the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands and performed on the Ernie Ball Stage on June 20, 2015.
WSimona Castricum is an Australian musician, performer, DJ and architecture academic. Since the late 1990s she has performed as Fluorescent, Simona Kapitolina and Simona and has been a member of a band, Ana Nicole. As from 2017 she was a PhD candidate and tutor in architecture at the University of Melbourne School of Design.
WJacqueline Charlotte Dufresnoy, better known by her stage name Coccinelle, was a French actress, entertainer and singer. She was transgender, and was the first widely publicized post-war gender reassignment case in Europe, where she was an international celebrity and a renowned club singer.
WJayne Rogers,, better known by her stage name Jayne County is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County, she was the vocalist of influential proto-punk band Wayne County & the Electric Chairs who became known for their campy and foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs, and image which was heavily influenced by Jackie Curtis and the Theatre of the Ridiculous. County in particular was known for her outrageous and unpredictable stage antics as well as possessing a distinctive singing voice. She went on to become rock's first openly transgender singer, and adopted the stage name Jayne County.
WElysia Chuquimia Paula Crampton is an American electronic musician, producer, poet and composer. Her work touches upon themes of Aymara survival and Latinx culture, LGBT and Aymara femme heritage, science fiction, references to Christian faith and ontology, and frequent utilization of samples and arrangements from varying sources.
WVaginal Davis is an American performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, filmmaker and writer. Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained notoriety in New York during the 1980s, where she inspired the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn's prevalent drag scene as a genderqueer artist. She currently resides in Berlin, Germany.
WDorian Electra Fridkin Gomberg is an American singer, songwriter, and performance artist. Their debut studio album, Flamboyant, was released in 2019, followed by their second studio album, My Agenda, in 2020.
WMaxine Adele Feldman ("Max") was an American folk singer-songwriter, comedian and pioneer of women's music. Feldman's song "Angry Atthis," first performed in May 1969 and first recorded in 1972, is considered the first openly distributed out lesbian song of what would become the women's music movement. Feldman identified as a "big loud Jewish butch lesbian."
WBibiana Manuela Fernández Chica, better known as Bibiana Fernández and also known as Bibi Andersen, is a Spanish actress, singer, TV presenter and model.
WEzra Furman is an American musician and songwriter. Furman currently performs solo and tours with her band.
WTeddy Geiger is an American singer, songwriter and record producer.
WLaura Jane Grace is an American musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!. In addition to Against Me!, Grace fronts the band Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers, a solo project she started in 2016. Grace is notable for being one of the first highly visible punk rock musicians to come out as transgender, after she publicly came out in May 2012.
WRomy Haag is a Dutch dancer, singer, actress and former nightclub manager.
WAi Haruna is a Japanese transgender TV personality and singer.
WBeth Jeans Houghton is a Newcastle upon Tyne-born multi-disciplinary musician, composer, artist, animator and video director. Her influences range from psychedelic rock, punk, blues, 1960s garage rock and soul. She creates art under her birth name, Beth Jeans Houghton, using photography, illustration, animation, video, sculpture and embroidery. She has directed and animated music videos for multiple artists including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ezra Furman, and Laura Marling's band LUMP. She writes, performs, and produces music under the name Du Blonde.
WJuliana Huxtable is an American artist, writer, performer, DJ, and co-founder of the New York-based nightlife project Shock Value. Huxtable has exhibited and performed at a number of venues including Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Project Native Informant, Artists Space, the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Institute of Contemporary Arts. Huxtable's multidisciplinary art practice explores a number of projects, such as the internet, the body, history, and text, often through a process she calls "conditioning." Huxtable is a published author of two books and a member of the New York City-based collective House of Ladosha. She previously lived and worked in New York City, and has been based in Berlin since 2020.
WChristine Jorgensen was an American transgender woman who was the first person to become widely known in the United States for having sex reassignment surgery. Jorgensen grew up in the Bronx, New York City. Shortly after graduating from high school in 1945, she was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II. After her military service, she attended several schools and worked; it is during this time she learned about sex reassignment surgery. Jorgensen traveled to Europe, and in Copenhagen, Denmark, obtained special permission to undergo a series of operations beginning in 1952.
WRocco Kayiatos, known professionally as Katastrophe and in some later releases as Rocco Katastrophe, is an American rapper.
WSkylar Kergil is an American transgender activist, singer-songwriter, public speaker, YouTube personality, and artist. Kergil has documented his transition from female-to-male on YouTube since 2009, to educate viewers about gender identity, hormones, surgeries, and life. As of April 2016, he has over 100,000 YouTube subscribers and over 9 million views. He began taking testosterone and putting videos on YouTube while attending Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and continued making videos while he was a student at Skidmore College. Kergil currently resides in Somerville, Massachusetts, continuing to create music and art.
WKareemia Baines, known professionally as Lady Red Couture, was an American drag queen and singer best known as the co-host of Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern. Born in Park City, Utah, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she became a fixture of the local drag scene. She released an album, #Stuntqueen, in 2018, and she was featured in a number of other drag queens' singles and music videos throughout the 2010s. She also starred in Judge Lady Red, another web series produced by McGovern. Baines died on July 25, 2020, after a flare-up of cyclic vomiting syndrome, a chronic affliction that affected her throughout her life.
WJennifer Leitham is an American musician and double bass player. Being left-handed, she has also used the nicknames "Lefty" or "The Southpaw."
WAmanda Lepore is a transgender American model, celebutante, singer, and performance artist. A former Club Kid, she has appeared in advertising for numerous companies. Lepore is noted as a regular subject in photographer David LaChapelle's work, serving as his muse, as well as many other photographers, such as Terry Richardson and Ruben van Schalm. She participated in LaChapelle's Artists and Prostitutes 1985–2005 exhibit in New York City, where she "lived" in a voyeuristic life-sized set.
WLiniker de Barros Ferreira Campos, widely known as Liniker, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and former bandleader for Brazilian soul and Black music band pt:Liniker e os Caramelows. Her voice has been described as 'powerful and low-pitched' with a 'slightly raspy, soul-singer' character as well as 'versatile' with a 'recurrent falsetto' and 'easily recognisable timbre'—with occasional comparisons arising towards Tim Maia. Liniker is an openly trans woman, and her music is an influence on young Brazilians facing gender discrimination, an audience which 'rarely finds itself represented in Brazilian music.' Her frequently excruciating, intense lyrics mainly deal with the vicissitudes of love.
WRenato Freitas, stage name Lizzy's Husband, is a Portuguese electronic music artist who combines various genres of electronica, especially industrial electronica and dance pop music.
WHoney Mahogany is an American activist, politician, drag performer, and singer. She first came to national attention on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, followed by releasing her debut EP Honey Love. She was instrumental in setting up the Compton's Transgender Cultural District in San Francisco, where she served as the first director.
WJennifer Maidman is a British musician, singer, producer, songwriter, actor and author who has collaborated extensively with many well known groups and artists. Her work appears on numerous recordings from 1976 onwards. She was a core member of the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra from 1984 until 2007. She is best known as a bass guitarist but also sings and plays guitar, keyboards, drums, percussion, ukulele, cuatro and Chapman Stick. In June 2016 her website announced that she was working on a solo album in Woodstock, New York featuring amongst others, Jerry Marotta, Annie Whitehead, and David Torn. The album, entitled 'Dreamland' was released on 1 August 2017 and features Marotta, Torn and Whitehead, with guest contributions from Paul Brady and Robert Wyatt amongst others. Since 2017 she has also been collaborating frequently with New York-based arts cooperative The Secret City.
WQuinn C. Marston is an American musician and artist based in New York City. His music was featured on TV shows such as One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer, and The Gates. He performed regularly at various New York City clubs including the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and The National Underground in Manhattan. His music has been compared to bands such as The Breeders, Belly, The Cure, Liz Phair, Karen O., a "punkified" Kimya Dawson, and Connie Converse. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Jersey City-based indie label Ernest Jenning.
WAngela Morley was an English composer and conductor who, as Wally Stott, became a familiar household name to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s. She attributed her entry into composing and arranging largely to the influence and encouragement of the Canadian light music composer Robert Farnon. Morley transitioned in 1972 and thereafter lived openly as a transgender woman. Later in life, she lived in Scottsdale, Arizona.
WKim Petras is a German singer and songwriter currently based in Los Angeles. Since 2016, Petras has been releasing music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records.
WDanica Roem is an American journalist and politician of the Democratic Party. In the 2017 Virginia elections she was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, winning the Democratic primary for the 13th district on June 13, and the general election on November 7. She is the first openly transgender person to be elected to the Virginia General Assembly, and in January 2018 became the first to both be elected and serve while openly transgender in any U.S. state legislature. In December 2017 The Advocate named her as a finalist for its "Person of the Year". In January 2018, Roem was included on the cover of Time Magazine in their "The Avengers" feature, highlighting new women candidates and elected officials from around the country.
WJeanette Schmid was a professional transgender whistler.
WCariza "Ice" Yamson Seguerra, formerly known professionally as Aiza Seguerra, is a Filipino actor, singer-songwriter and guitarist. Initially coming out as a lesbian in 2007, Seguerra now identifies himself as a transgender man.
WJulia Michelle Serano is an American writer, musician, spoken-word performer, trans–bi activist, and biologist. She is known for her transfeminist books Whipping Girl (2007), Excluded (2013), and Outspoken (2016). She is also a prolific public speaker who has given many talks at universities and conferences, and her writing is frequently featured in queer, feminist, and pop-culture magazines.
WLucas Silveira is a Canadian vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter from Toronto, Ontario. He has composed and performed folk music and rock music, and formed and played in the band The Cliks. Silveira is credited as the first openly transgender man to have signed with a major record label. He also writes about LGBTQ issues.
WBreanna Sinclairé is an American singer based in California. In June 2015, she became the first transgender woman to sing the American national anthem at a professional sports event.
WSophie Xeon, better known mononymously as Sophie, is a Scottish musician, record producer, singer, songwriter, and DJ. Sophie is known for her synthesised and "hyperkinetic" take on pop music, and came to prominence with singles such as "Bipp" (2013) and "Lemonade" (2014). Her compilation Product was released in 2015, and the debut album Oil of Every Pearl's Un-Insides followed in 2018. The latter earned her a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album. Sophie has worked closely with artists from the PC Music label, including A.G. Cook and GFOTY, and has produced for acts such as Madonna, Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Let's Eat Grandma, Kim Petras, Flume, Namie Amuro and Itzy.
WYollada "Nok" Suanyot is a Thai politician and celebrity. On May 27, 2012, she was elected to represent Mueang Nan District on the Provincial Administration Organization for Nan Province in Thailand, running as an independent politician. Previous to entering politics, Suanyot had been a model and beauty queen, and was a member of the pop group Venus Flytrap, where she performed under the name "Nok". Suanyot is a transgender woman and founded and chairs the TransFemale Association of Thailand, which advocates for transgender rights. Because of the lack of legal recognition for transgender people in Thailand, her male name as designated at birth has appeared on the ballot. Suanyot graduated with a science degree from Thammasat University when she was 21, holds a master's degree in political science, and is currently working toward a Ph.D. in social science at Ramkhamhaeng University.
WTerre Thaemlitz is a musician, public speaker, and owner of the record label Comatonse Recordings. Thaemlitz's work critically combines themes of identity politics – including gender, sexuality, class, linguistics, ethnicity and race – with an ongoing critique of the socio-economics of commercial media production. This diversity of themes is matched by Thaemlitz's wide range of production styles, which include electroacoustic computer music, club-oriented deep house, digital jazz, ambient, and computer-composed neo-expressionist piano solos. Graphic design, photography, illustration, text and video also play a part in Thaemlitz's projects.
WBilly Tipton was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. For decades, Tipton assumed a male gender identity. Tipton's female birth sex was not publicly revealed until after his death, and the revelation came as a surprise to family and friends.
WJake Zyrus, formerly known under the mononym Charice, and also known as Charice Pempengco, is a Filipino singer and television personality.