KEVIN AVIANCE
From 90s Nightlife Icon to Beyoncé Muse: Kevin Aviance Has No Plans to Leave the Dance Floor.
This story is printed in GAYLETTER issue 20, to purchase the issue click here.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DIEGO URBINA
STYLING BY GABRIEL HELD
INTERVIEW BY LEO HERRERA
Kevin Aviance is that girl. If you’ve ever seen the icon sing, dance, spin, hell, walk across a room, you know, Aviance is a fierce presence, statuesque and bald, a mix of Grace Jones and Boy George.
Celebrated as a DJ and producer as well as a ballroom and drag legend, Aviance conquered New York City nightlife in the 1990s.
And don’t call it a comeback, but since Beyoncé paid homage sampling his club banger “Cunty” on her Renaissance album, the living legend is not only getting his flowers, but maybe just getting started.
Aviance’s dear friend artist Leo Herrera called him up to hear all about it, including the tea on his next album Hippopotamus.
I was trying to find that photo of us in Provincetown. That was ten years ago! It’s been a long time!
That’s so crazy. What were we even there for? Do you remember? Well, I was there doing auditions. Are you still with the same guy?
No, we broke up. But, that lasted for a while. You know how we do, we just stretch it out for too long. Trust. Anyone in your life now?
Yes. I’ve got a boyfriend from Jamaica, Queens. So he gives me a run for my money [Laughs]. But that’s been going on for almost seven years now. That’s very you though. I see that for you.
You look good though. Thank you! I got dressed up for you.
Oh, look at that! Xander [Gaines] was over here the other night because I’m staying with DJ Will [Automagic]. Xander was telling me that he was gonna go dress you for something. I can’t remember what it was. He’s been major trying to get me ready for this whole segment of my life. It’s been really amazing having him along. I trust him so much. He creates it all, so I call him the builder.
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Let’s talk about this phase of your life. This has been a rollercoaster the last two years now. It’s been two years since Beyoncé’s Renaissance. It’s been so crazy. It’s been like one of the biggest blessings of my life. You know, you live a life. You’ve done so much, and then you realize that it was all preparing you for what is going on now. And I don’t know if everybody goes through that in life, but I didn’t think I would be going to that. And the humbleness and the realness and the quirkiness and all the kiki carrying on that I used to think I was doing, girl, I’m doing it now. I’m bubbling inside. Joy is in my life so much. I’m constantly laughing, crying. The emotions are so real and honest and it’s all from just being myself and being who I am authentically. You know, the realness of me. I was always fighting myself and I was putting myself down, and now it’s just like, I just have to live. You know what I mean? Live and do. And thatís it.
Xander told me, girl! I think you need to use yourself as inspiration. You’ve done so much. Stop looking at other inspirations. There’s no reason why you can’t use yourself. And it’s been such a therapeutic thing for me, an incredible idea. Cause I never had that thought before. I didn’t think that was possible.
Did you think you were done? I thought the bread was cooked, and I was always serving. Always, always hot. You know? She was stale sometimes. You know, she was a day old sometimes. She was this, she was that. But now I feel very much like new ingredients. I feel like I’m in a new body. I feel that grandma is making this new recipe with me. And you know my mother’s gone. All these people that were here in my life are not here anymore. And so I just feel that they are stirring up the pot. I feel them every day. You know? I feel them right here with me.
That’s wonderful. That’s always a concern for me that I’ll lose family members and they won’t see success. The gayngels! [Laughs] Actually, I took this word from you. Gayngels. I took it from you, Honey!
Gayngel blessings. Praise them! I have chills right now [Laughs]. That’s so wild. Right?
You’ve been doing so many interviews, so I’m gonna start with the shady question: what is the thing about Renaissance and Beyoncé that you are tired of being asked about? There’s nothing. No one thing. Lemme tell you something. When a Black woman, a rich one, takes upon herself a whole bunch of faggots and goes, “Look at these girls. They’re cute. They got some stuff going on here, and we need to see them, and we need to recognize them. We need to love them and be with them.” You know, in my home, in my family, coming to the table is a very big thing. Going to the dinner table, that table is really big. You know, I feel welcomed at my table. Not that I wasn’t before, but I could sit at that table now and I’d have other faggots in my family, but they have their own agendas. They have their own dramas. You know what I mean? [Laughs] They’re older than me. They have their own thing. But me living in New York for so long and everything, they told me a bunch of stories.
This story is printed in GAYLETTER issue 20, to purchase the issue click here.
They didn’t know whether they were gonna get stories from me or whether I died. They were very nervous and scared for me. So when I come back and I’m like, “Girl, hello!” You know, they look at me totally different now, with the Beyoncé credit on top of it. The Renaissance thing was the most incredible piece of work to date I have ever heard that was from us, for us, directed to us. And I just think that’s a lot to take on for a Black woman. And she was in it with such grace. She took my song, and she became Cunty. She became that person. She did everything she did to become that. It was just like, Girl, someone heard me. That was just powerful, so I’m grateful. The checks were cute.
Often we are our worst critics. So what is something that you had doubts about before in terms of talent or work that you are now very impressed by about yourself? I didn’t really think that people took me seriously about what I did in the past. I thought I was the nineties girl, old diva goodies, all that stuff. You know I’m 56 now, so it’s kind of like they didn’t wanna see me come through anymore. You know what I mean? It was really hard. I got my hips replaced, and all that stuff. I don’t think any of us had that handbook about how to deal with age, how to grow gay and old, you know what I mean?
I’ve been talking about this because I’m turning 43 in two days… Whatever [Laughs].
But whether it was AIDS or just the closet, a lot of us didn’t grow up with mentors around. We didn't get to see what aging is supposed to look like. So it’s fantastic when someone’s like, I’m 56 and experiencing a literal renaissance in front of the whole world. Especially when it’s somebody who a lot of us have been cheering on for a long time. I was just a girl. I was not the nicest girl in the world. She had her little defenses up. She was around people yelling, she was doing everybody’s drugs again. She was the girl! So I was like, It only takes one queen to fuck this whole shit up. You know what I mean? And everyone just really was cheering for me and that made me feel good because I felt like they were with me. They were part of my life, part of my career. That’s what’s so beautiful about it.
I think my favorite part was that we all felt uplifted by that. This is something that we’ve all invested in and something that we’re all proud of. And this is Black culture and trans culture and all of it together. So to watch that recognition, especially in this climate, feels special. This climate, girl.
When did you get to New York City? Where did you come from? In 1992, I came from Florida via Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. That’s where I'm originally from.
How old were you when you moved here, were you old enough to drink? I don’t know, girl. I was like 20-something, I could drink, fuck, carry, everything, girl [Laughs]. My house mother, Juan Aviance called me and said, “It’s time for you to come to New York. I got the apartment.” So I moved here with my mother. That’s when it all started. I lived on 55th and 9th Ave,. which is now Alvin Ailey. I was that girl. I had this rainbow coat full of Beanie Babies. It was gay pride weekend — this is when pride went up to Central Park. I remember being in the parade and I was really hot. Everybody’s looking at me and I was looking at them. I just felt like, okay I’m here.
What’s one of your favorite memories from that time? $25 a gig [Laughs] and if I did two numbers I’d get $50.
So many people will say that trans or non-binary people are new even though anybody who has been queer knows that that’s not true. These folks have been around forever and you were doing non-binary before it was even labeled. The way that we express ourselves about gender is new, though. We have new words and we have new platforms to talk about it. What is your favorite thing about gender expression in young people now? Girl, I miss the faggot [Laughs]. I miss carrying on. I miss the reads. I miss the when she gets hers — she gets her card because she learned how to read and she starts letting girls have it. And she’s like Ms. Thing, she learned from somebody and she knows how to move and maneuver herself. And she’s better and her face is looking ovah, and the bitch looks fierce. And she’s not trying to be anything but just beautiful. That’s the faggot I miss. I miss the faggot that just has what they have and they just push forward.
I’ve always had trans people around me since I was a little kid. In Richmond, Virginia, even in D.C., everywhere. So it’s not about that. But for me it was just kind of like, I miss that lesbian, that Black lesbian with the eyewear, with the car, with her stripper girlfriend, you know? I miss that Black queen, the Black queen that would come through with the beautiful skin and the body and the clothes and all of that. I miss that queen. But now it’s like, everybody’s tryin to be that queen, the white ones, everybody, they all want to be that girl. And I was like, not everybody can be that girl [Laughs].
I’m not trying to be read-ey. I’m just saying that you have to know your lane. There are some girls that are just fab. You know what I mean? I mean, they were fab girls. There were fab girls back in the day. Really.
Tell me about your album release. What is it called? When is it coming out? My album’s called Hippopotamus. It’s coming out October 1st. I’ve always been the biggest voice in the room. Not only am I the biggest voice of
this album, but I’m vocalizing this whole album. It is a love letter to myself and to all my dance music that I love, that I’ve grown up with. I freestyle on the album. I have club music, gospel, and I have techno. People were like, are you serious? I was just joking, but I slept on it. We’re calling it Hippopotamus. They were like Kevin, “Let’s not.” I don’t give
a hoot, it’s Hippopotamus. So I’m doing research on the hippopotamus. I’m just like, “Wow.”
Tell me about a hippopotamus. A hippopotamus will allow you to look at them for a little bit until they get annoyed and then they’ll run you over. All the babies are brought into the world underwater. They go underwater to relax, to have their teeth cleaned too, with all the fishes and stuff like that. They don’t mess with you. They’re very peaceful until you mess with them, and then they’re going to really mow you down and kill you. I think they’re absolutely beautiful. Now, I am not talking about the size of a person, but I’m talking about the hippopotamus in the sense of the word is so beautiful to say in your mouth. I think it’s one of those beautiful words, hippopotamus.
You have to smile when you say it too. There’s a childlike thing that comes out of me because I always loved them as a kid. I found out that Pablo Escobar, that drug guy. He used to have hippopotamuses on his estate in Colombia.
I guess there are like 150 of them now and they bow down to people all the time, and they’re just on the land. So I love the hippo. I really do.
What are you most excited about the album release? The people hearing. I wrote everything with DJ Gomi and a couple other writers. It’s such an evolution of what I’ve been doing before a lot of times when I was recording back in the day. They didn’t want me to sing then. This time I’m running the show and I found my voice and I’ve really worked on these songs this whole past year. I’m a music theory person. I’ve studied music. I know music very well. I think everyone’s gonna be shocked and really enjoy themselves when they hear it.
What are you most excited about, to perform it or to listen to it in the club? I’m so excited about performing, I'm so excited about DJing. We had a meeting yesterday talking about the tour and everything. The thought of me going on this little tour for Hippopotamus is just great. I’m just very excited about it. I’m 56 and I’m still doing my dream and being 100 percent about it. It’s such a blessing. God is so good.
Tell me about the anniversary of “Cunty” and the possible collaboration with Honey Dijon. Well, “Cunty” is in its 28th or 29th year or something like that and Defected Records has put together a team for the anniversary. Honey Dijon and I will do a collaboration. She plays “Cunty” all the time and so we are going to bring out another version of “Cunty” for the next generation.
Oh, that’s fantastic! Honey Dijon is so fab. Can you believe the Black Swan she’s turned into? Such a goddess. I love love love Honey. Honey actually helped me get involved with Renaissance. She championed me to be part of that record.
Talk a little bit about Laverne Cox, who was your original “Cunty” inspiration. These divas, the Black girls that are doing it now and really running the show, I grew up with all these girls. Laverne Cox was one of my dancers. I’m so proud to be able to be with these girls — to be at these premieres and just hanging out with them and rising with them. It’s such a beautiful thing. It’s Black boy joy for me. They call it Black girl magic, but I call it Black boy joy. It’s just so incredible. And they’re so smart. I mean, Laverne, come on. I’m like, Girl, I wanna be you when I grow up.
Well thank you so much. I love you. It was so good to talk to you. Good luck on finishing the album. Bye. Big kiss. Bye bye.
Thanks for such a warm and wonderful conversation Leo 💕💕💕