Jayne County
Encyclopedia
Jayne County formerly known as Wayne County, is an American male-to-female transsexual performer, musician and actress whose career has spanned several decades. County would go on to be known as rock's first transsexual singer. Though she has never been a commercial success, she has been an influence on musicians such as David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, The Ramones, Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

, and Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

. Pianist
Pianist
A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...

's first studio outing was with County on her single "Fuck Off".

She is known for her outrageous stage antics and her songs "Are You Man Enough To Be A Woman", "Fuck Off", "Stuck On You," and "Night Time".

County was previously an actress at Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

's The Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...

.

Biography

Born Wayne Rogers in 1947, County left her hometown of Dallas, Georgia
Dallas, Georgia
Dallas is a city in and the county seat of Paulding County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 11,544. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States of America under James K. Polk.-History:...

 in 1968 to move to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, where she became a regular at the Stonewall Inn
Stonewall Inn
The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall is an American bar in New York City and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the United...

 and took part in the historic riots
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...

. In 1969, County was asked by Warhol superstar and playwright Jackie Curtis
Jackie Curtis
John Curtis Holder, Jr. , better known as Jackie Curtis, was an actor, writer, singer and Warhol Superstar.-Early life and career:...

 to appear in her play, Femme Fatale, at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club is an off-off Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, and named in reference to her. Located on Manhattan's Lower East Side, the theatre grew out of Stewart's tiny basement boutique for her fashion designs; the boutique's space acted as a theatre for...

, which also starred Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

. In her autobiography, County says of Curtis, "She was my biggest influence, the person who really got me started." After a successful run of Femme Fatale, County wrote World - Birth Of A Nation which she also appeared in, bringing her to the attention of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

, who cast her in his own theatrical production, Pork. After a run in New York, the play, with the New York cast, was performed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Upon returning to New York, County appeared in another play, Island, by Tony Ingrassia, again with Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

.

In 1972 County formed Queen Elizabeth, one of the pioneering protopunk
Protopunk
Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential...

 bands. Despite being signed to MainMan Artistes LTD, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

's management firm, no records were ever produced. The company spent over $200,000 to film the 1974 stage show, "Wayne at the Trucks", the footage of which has never been released. The show featured numerous costume changes and some of County's raunchiest material. Eight songs from the show were released on the 2006 CD, Wayne County At The Trucks, on Munster Records. The show is claimed by County to have been the inspiration for Bowie's Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs is a concept album by David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. Thematically it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world...

 tour. In particular, County maintains that the song "Queenage Baby" was a prototype for Bowie's song "Rebel Rebel
Rebel Rebel
"Rebel Rebel" is a song by David Bowie, released in 1974 as a single and on the album Diamond Dogs. Cited as his most-covered track, it was effectively Bowie's farewell to the glam movement that had made him a star.-Music and lyrics:...

", a claim which is supported by some rock critics.

In 1974 she formed "Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys", which recorded three tracks for Max's Kansas City: New York New Wave, a compilation that also featured Suicide
Suicide (band)
Suicide is an American electronic protopunk musical duo, intermittently active since 1970 and composed of vocalist Alan Vega and Martin Rev on synthesizers and drum machines. They are an early synthesizer/vocal musical duo....

, Pere Ubu
Pere Ubu (band)
Pere Ubu is an experimental rock music group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. Despite many long-term band members, singer David Thomas is the only constant...

, Cherry Vanilla
Cherry Vanilla
Cherry Vanilla is an American singer-songwriter, publicist, and actress. After working as an actress in Andy Warhol's Pork, she worked as a publicist for David Bowie, before finding fame as a rock singer. She subsequently became a publicist for Vangelis.-Career:Kathleen Dorritie was born in...

 and The Fast. Wayne County and The Backstreet Boys played regularly at CBGB
CBGB
CBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...

 and Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...

, where County was also a DJ. In 1976, she appeared in the film The Blank Generation
The Blank Generation
The Blank Generation is the earliest published D-I-Y "home movies" of New York punk's birth filmed by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral, legendary 1970s guitarist with Iggy Pop, Blondie and Patti Smith.- Synopsis :...

, directed by Amos Poe
Amos Poe
Amos Poe is a New York City director and screenwriter, described by The New York Times as a "pioneering indie filmmaker."-Career:Amos Poe is one of the first punk filmmakers and his film The Blank Generation —co-directed with Ivan Kral— is one of the earliest punk films...

 and Ivan Kral
Ivan Kral
Ivan Kral is a Grammy Award-winning Czechoslovakian-born American composer, filmmaker and singer. He works across many genres including rock, jazz, soul, country and film scores...

. The film, the recording and the shows were the beginnings of what came to be known as punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, and helped define the movement.

In 1977, County moved to London, where the English punk scene was just emerging, and formed Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band is headed by Georgia transgendered woman, Wayne County, who later changed her name to Jayne County.-Career:...

. County released the EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 Electric Chairs 1977, plus a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 on Illegal Records
Illegal Records
Illegal Records is a record label founded by Miles Copeland III with his younger brother Stewart Copeland and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan in 1977. The label released The Police's debut single, Fall Out....

. This was followed by "Fuck Off", recorded as a single for Safari Records
Safari Records
Safari Records was an UK independent record label based in London and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards , Andreas Budde and John Craig who previously ran Purple and Oyster Records...

 and supported with a European tour. While in London, County met Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...

, who cast her as "Lounge Lizard" in the seminal punk film, Jubilee
Jubilee (1977 film)
Jubilee is a 1977 cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.-Plot:...

, which also starred Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

, Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows...

, Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson
Ian Charleson was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. He is also well known for his portrayal of Rev...

 Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux
Siouxsie Sioux is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer of the critically acclaimed rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees and of its splinter group The Creatures . The Banshees produced eleven studio albums and a string of hit singles including "Hong Kong Garden",...

 and Jordan. County and band are also featured in The Punk Rock Movie
The Punk Rock Movie
The Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, principally during the 100 days in 1977 in which punk acts were featured at The Roxy club in London.-History:Roxy club disc jockey...

, by Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...

, containing part of a 1977 performance at The Roxy
The Roxy
The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub on Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy.-Brief history:...

 club in London.

Shortly after this, Wayne County and The Electric Chairs recorded their first, self-titled album, as well as an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Blatantly Offensive, which contained "Fuck Off" and "Toilet Love." After touring they recorded Storm The Gates Of Heaven. The next album, released in 1979, was Things Your Mother Never Told You, which featured several songs based on County's experiences in Germany. After it was released, the band broke up and County, along with guitarist Eliot Michaels, returned to the U.S. It was at this time that she changed her stage name to "Jayne County" and began self-identifying as a woman. The final release by County on Safari Records
Safari Records
Safari Records was an UK independent record label based in London and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards , Andreas Budde and John Craig who previously ran Purple and Oyster Records...

, Rock and Roll Resurrection (In Concert), was under this new name.

In 1983, County returned to New York where she appeared in the theatrical production Les Girls with Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn
Holly Woodlawn is a Puerto Rican-born transgendered actress and former Warhol superstar, who appeared in his movies Trash and Women in Revolt .-Early life:...

. Shortly thereafter she returned to London for the premiere of City Of Lost Souls and stayed long enough to record and tour another album, Private Oyster, with Warren Heighway as manager. Her band included members of various UK based rock bands, including Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

-based guitarists, Stu Clarke and Chris Rockson [Lynch], and Bazil Creece on drums. Following widespread media attention, she returned to the U.S.

In the 1990s many of the earlier recordings were released, including the early Safari tracks, on a CD called Rock & Roll Cleopatra. She recorded the album Goddess Of Wet Dreams in 1993, followed by Deviation, in 1995. Later that year she appeared in Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie
Wigstock: The Movie is a 1995 documentary film focusing on Wigstock, the annual drag music festival that had been held New York City's East Village through the 1980s and 1990s. The film presents a number of performances from the 1994 festival, including Crystal Waters, Deee-Lite, Jackie Beat,...

 and released her autobiography, Man Enough To Be A Woman.

Since that time several new tracks have surfaced on various compilations and through County's official website. Many of these tracks, both live and studio recordings, were collected on the Ratcage Records release So New York, including collaborations with Lisa Jackson and former Electric Chairs guitarist Eliot Michaels. A live show, recorded on County's birthday, was released on the 2002 CD Wash Me In The Blood (Of Rock & Roll)- Live at Squeeze Box by Fang Records, and features a duet on "California Sun" by County and former nemesis "Handsome" Dick Manitoba
Richard Manitoba
Richard "Handsome Dick" Manitoba is an American punk rock singer and radio personality, best known as the lead singer of the New York City band The Dictators.- Background :...

 of The Dictators
The Dictators
The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth." The Dictators are represented in the "Punk Wing" of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in Cleveland, Ohio...

.

Films

  • The Blank Generation
    The Blank Generation
    The Blank Generation is the earliest published D-I-Y "home movies" of New York punk's birth filmed by Amos Poe and Ivan Kral, legendary 1970s guitarist with Iggy Pop, Blondie and Patti Smith.- Synopsis :...

    , directed by Ivan Kral
    Ivan Kral
    Ivan Kral is a Grammy Award-winning Czechoslovakian-born American composer, filmmaker and singer. He works across many genres including rock, jazz, soul, country and film scores...

     and Amos Poe
    Amos Poe
    Amos Poe is a New York City director and screenwriter, described by The New York Times as a "pioneering indie filmmaker."-Career:Amos Poe is one of the first punk filmmakers and his film The Blank Generation —co-directed with Ivan Kral— is one of the earliest punk films...

     (1976)
  • The Punk Rock Movie
    The Punk Rock Movie
    The Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, principally during the 100 days in 1977 in which punk acts were featured at The Roxy club in London.-History:Roxy club disc jockey...

    , directed by Don Letts
    Don Letts
    Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...

     (1977)
  • Punk In London, directed by Wolfgang Büld
  • Jubilee
    Jubilee (1977 film)
    Jubilee is a 1977 cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.-Plot:...

    , directed by Derek Jarman
    Derek Jarman
    Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...

  • Stadt der verlorenen Seelen (City Of Lost Souls), directed by Rosa von Praunheim
    Rosa von Praunheim
    Rosa von Praunheim , in Riga, Latvia. His given name is Holger Mischwitzky. He is a German film director, author, painter and gay rights activist. Openly gay, he is one of the initiators of the gay rights movement in Germany....

     (1982)
  • Wigstock:The Movie, directed by Barry Shils (1995)
  • King of Punk
    King of Punk
    The King of Punk documentary is directed and produced by Kenneth van Schooten and Julie van Schooten.The documentary film includes interviews with members of bands involved in the Punk scene between 1976 and 1982 including Ramones, Adicts, Exploited, Avengers, Dead Boys, UK Subs, Zeros, Wayne...

    , directed by Kenneth van Schooten (2007)
  • Squeezebox!, directed by Steven Saporito and Zach Shaffer (2008)

Books

  • Man Enough To Be A Woman, Jayne County with Rupert Smith, 1995, published by Serpents's Tail ISBN 1-85242-338-2

Discography

  • Max's Kansas City 1976 EP Ram Stereo 1213
  • The Electric Chairs EP on Illegal Records
    Illegal Records
    Illegal Records is a record label founded by Miles Copeland III with his younger brother Stewart Copeland and the manager of The Police, Paul Mulligan in 1977. The label released The Police's debut single, Fall Out....

     1977
  • The Electric Chairs on Safari Records
    Safari Records
    Safari Records was an UK independent record label based in London and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards , Andreas Budde and John Craig who previously ran Purple and Oyster Records...

     1978
  • Blatantly Offensive EP, Safari Records 1978
  • Storm The Gates Of Heaven, Safari Records 1978
  • Things Your Mother Never Told You, Safari Records 1979
  • Rock and Roll Resurrection (In Concert), Safari Records 1980
  • Rock and Roll Resurrection (In Concert), Attic Records Limited 1980
  • Twist And Shout/Boys 45 rpm single with Jimi LaLumia & The Psychotic Frogs/also featuring Johnny Thunders and Cherry Vanilla-Beat This Label-1981
  • Private Oyster, Revolver Records 1987
  • Goddess Of Wet Dreams, ESP Records 1993
  • Deviation, Royalty Records 1995
  • Wash Me In The Blood (Of Rock & Roll)- Live at Squeeze Box, Fang Records 2002
  • So New York, Ratcage Records 2003
  • Wayne County At The Trucks, Munster Records 2006
  • Razor Clam, (single with She Wolves), Poptown Records 2007
  • California Uber Alles, (single with She Wolves), Poptown Records 2007

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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