Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger, November 15, 1986), is an American model, fashion designer, make-up artist, DJ, and singer-songwriter residing in the Los Angeles area.[4][5] He is an Internet celebrity known for his popularity on MySpace as well as his fashion line and from his transgressive, genderfuck and gender-bending appearance and persona while calling himself "Queen of the Internet" and "Queen of the Beautifuls".[3][6][7][8][9] Star has leveraged his fame as an androgynous model and aesthetic talents to launch his own clothing line and forays into acting and DJing.Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Club scene 3 Make-up, modeling, and Internet fame 3.1 MySpace celebrity 3.2 Buzznet.com video-blogging 4 Music career 4.1 Plastic Surgery Slumber Party 2006-2007 4.2 Cupcakes Taste Like Violence 2008-2009 4.3 Beauty Killer 2009-present 5 Discography 6 Filmography 7 Reality show development 8 Merchandise 9 See also 10 References 11 External links
Early life
Star was born in Orange County, California. Star recalls that he "discovered that he was gay in his early childhood".[7] His father died in his childhood thus Star was left alone while his working model mother went on assignments. He began experimenting with his mother's makeup at a young age, leading to an obsessive compulsive interest,[10] and convinced his mom to let him wear make-up to school when he was in junior high.[7] Club scene
Star's make-up artist career was started at age fifteen as an "underage gender-bending club kid" wearing make-up, dying his hair in day-glo colors and cross dressing which in turn lead to receiving large amounts of attention from people both in and out of school.[3][7] Star's popularity came from wearing women's clothing and accessories in high school.[7] Star recalls that his obsessive compulsive disorder as a child pushed him into wearing his mother's makeup and clothes.[10]
On weekends, Star recounts using a "fake ID to attend Hollywood clubs dressed in mini dresses and nine inch high heels where celebrities would contract him for make-up work at their homes", or "hiring [Star] as a model."[10] He reports that his weekend partying at clubs and the make-up advice he gave was the foundation to his modeling career.[10] Make-up, modeling, and Internet fame
Star was referred to celebrities including Kelly Osbourne, Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton, AFI frontman Davey Havok and Jessicka from the band Scarling.[7][11] He is a former make-up artist for alt porn website, GodsGirls.[12]
Star gained a cult following from posting outrageous photographs of himself on Internet forums and later MySpace, who began sending him gifts including expensive cameras to take more pictures.[7]
Jeffree Star attending a tribute to Anna Nicole Smith held by Bobby Trendy - Hollywood, CA on Dec. 12, 2007
On August 1, 2006, Los Angeles' LGBT magazine Frontiers featured Star on its cover. On November 17, 2006 Star and several contestants from "America's Next Top Model" were a part of Black Chandelier's "Fall 2006 Runway Show" at Salt Lake City's Union Pacific Depot. Star was also a guest on "America's Next Top Model, Cycle 7".[11]
On March 16, 2007, Star was one of the featured runway models for BOXeight's production of designer Jared Gold’s flamboyant "Quiet Army show", regarded as "the wildest front row in all of Fashion Week." The shows 2007 theme was "Mormon chic", effectively using the Los Angeles Theater as a backdrop during L.A. Fashion Week.[13] He has appeared in several music videos including Good Charlotte's "The River",[14] Godhead's "Push", Aiden's "One Love" and Metro Station's "Shake It".[15] MySpace celebrity
Jeffree Star used popular social networking website MySpace to further both his music as well as fashion design career. Star also used MySpace for blogging about his life while making social commentary on "self-image and confidence",[4] fame, beauty and life. Using the nickname of "cunt" while using "cyanide-laced wit" in his online rants[9] to attract attention, Star had built up a fan base on several websites but convinced many to join him on MySpace, giving his MySpace profile a large number of "friends" from the beginning.[7] His MySpace friend base has since grown to over 1,006,600 as of July 2009[10] with each new photo shoot getting over 50,000 comments when posted,[7] and by November 2006, he was recognized as MySpace's most connected profile personality.[16]
Star also gained fame as one of the most popular unsigned artists with the daily rankings placing him in the top tier[6] on MySpace. Buzznet.com video-blogging
On March 28, 2007 at Project Runway's Jeffrey Sebelia fashion show Star was a front row "celebutante" where he revealed details of Buzznet.com’s “Queen Needs a Princess Contest” which had "a day of femme-licious fun with Star" as the grand prize.[17] The social-networking, music-news site specializes in new-media (integrated photoblog and videoblog capabilities) which Star has capitalized on to dovetail his modeling and music interests.[17] Stars' social trendsetting participation at Buzznet and his success at growing online fan-base was noted in Buzznet's six million financing in May 2007.[18] Star regularly uploads video-blog segments including music reviews, event reports as well as posting news about his upcoming music release. Music career Plastic Surgery Slumber Party 2006-2007
Star's music career as an electronica and hip-hop vocalist began when he befriended Peaches' drummer who encouraged him to make music.[7] Star was then asked by Hollywood Undead to rap on their song "Turn off the Lights" for their debut album.[19] However, the track did not make it onto the disc.
His first two solo tracks "We Want Cunt", named in tribute to his former screen name Cunt: Queen of the Beautifuls, and "Straight Boys" were co-written with Hole and one time Mötley Crüe drummer, Samantha Maloney and singer Jessicka from Scarling..[9] Star asked MySpace co-founder Tom to convert his MySpace profile into a music page so he could showcase his music.[7]
On November 1, 2006 Star performed on the same bill as Los Angeles' Dirty Sanchez at the LA bar Key Club’s post-Halloween show.[20] Star has toured with electro musician Peaches,[3][21] as well as Cyndi Lauper,[7] Metro Station,[22] Breathe Carolina,[23] Dr. Manhattan, Schoolyard Heroes,[24] and Ultraviolet Sound.
On the 13 March 2007, Star released his debut extended play Plastic Surgery Slumber Party which was produced by Ultraviolet Sound.[25] The record topped at number one on the iTunes’s dance charts and "has consistently topped the iTunes dance charts at #1, hovering high above household names such as Justin Timberlake and Cascada."[4][7] Separately, Star's MySpace page has 25 million listens to Plastic Surgery Slumber Party as of July 2007.[26]
During the summer of 2007, Star was advertised as a part of the True Colors Tour 2007,[27] which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada.[28] The tour, sponsored by the LGBT Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007 to coincide with Pride month.[29] Profits from the tour benefited the Human Rights Campaign as well as PFLAG and The Matthew Shepard Foundation. Though he was advertised as a special guest to perform on several West Coast dates, Star did not appear.[citation needed]
Jeffree Star performing at Roadhouse, Manchester, UK on March 14, 2009.
Star's song "Plastic Surgery Slumber Party" appeared on the August 2007 Tommy Boy release of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors tour compilation. Featuring ten tracks from ten of the artists, the compilation benefits the Human Rights Campaign, an organization that fights for civil rights for LGBT people.[29] Cupcakes Taste Like Violence 2008-2009
Prior to the release of his second extended play, Star released his debut single "Heart Surgery Isn't That Bad..." on Valentine's Day, 2008, followed by its b-side, "I Hate Music", on April 17, 2008.[30] Star later recorded and released "Starstruck" featuring Danger Radio - his first single available for free download as a "thank you" to fans.[31][32] Trace Cyrus and Mason Musso from Metro Station[33] originally provided vocals for the song, however, due to a feud between the band and Star,[34][35] they were ultimately replaced with Andrew de Torres from Danger Radio.
Cupcakes Taste Like Violence, Star's sophomore extended play, was released on December 9, 2008.[36] This is his first record to be available as a CD as well as digitial download.[36] This is also Star's debut record to be released under Popsicle Records through Warner Music Group’s Independent Label Group. Star said the extended play "remindes me of myself. I may look sweet, but I'm really scary and violent on the inside."[37] Cupcakes Taste Like Violence peaked at number six on the Billboard Top Electronic Albums[38] and at number eight on the Billboard Top Heatseekers.[39] "Lollipop Luxury" was the first single from the extended play released November 18, 2008. Beauty Killer 2009-present
Star's debut studio album, Beauty Killer, was released on September 22, 2009.[40] The first single from the album, "Prisoner", was released for digital download on May 2, 2009.[41] The track received two million plays on MySpace at the end of its second week being available for stream. "Love Rhymes With Fuck You" was the second single from the album; like "Prisoner", it was also released for digital download on June 30, 2009.[42] The album debuted at number 122 in the US Billboard 200 Chart. It also debuted at #7 in the US Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums Chart and fell to #12 on its second week.[43] A music video for "Prisoner", directed by Robert Hales, was originally planned.[44] However, it has since been cancelled and replaced with "Get Away With Murder" which was filmed on November 7, 2009. The video premiered on the front page of MySpace on January 23, 2010.[45]
It was announced that recording was underway for Star's first studio album in late 2007.[46] He stated that the new songs "are more sexy, some are more "guy"ish and some are me screaming my heart out. I'm still finding what "Jeffree Star" really is. And I think I'm almost there..."[47] To "tide fans over" until the first single from the album was released, on April 21, 2009, Star released a remix cover of Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" which was made available for free download.[48] Morgan Page's radio edit mix of "Prisoner" was released for free download by Star on December 18, 2009. He worked with producers such as Lester Mendez, 3OH!3's Nathaniel Motte, God's Paparazzi[41] and more. Star performed at Warped Tour 2009 to promote some of the music from his album.[41][49]
Star originally planned a North American headlining concert tour, titled "I'm Cold, Keep Me Warm...Bitch!" for two weeks in December 2009. However, due to "personal things [that] have gotten out of hand in [his] family" the tour was cancelled. Star will be embarking on his "2 DRUNK 2 FUCK" 2010 world tour where he says he will "be going everywhere...and yes that means Europe and Australia". This will be his first headlining tour supporting the album. Dates have been officially announced in the USA, United Kingdom and several countries in continental Europe.
Star released his fifth single "Blush" (his second single-only release) on February 16, 2010. "Size of Your Boat" has been announced to be Star's sixth single which will be released early June, 2010.[50][51]
Star released two songs with label-mates Blood on the Dance Floor called "Sexting (Remix)" and "Inject Me Sweetly". He also released a cover version of "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer for the Turn the Beat Around OST. Discography Main article: Jeffree Star discography Studio albums 2009: Beauty Killer EPs 2007: Plastic Surgery Slumber Party 2008: Cupcakes Taste like Violence FilmographyTelevision guest appearances Year Title Role Notes 2007 Video on Trial Himself Guest judge (episode 20, season 2) LA Ink Himself "Kat's in Love" (episode 10, season 1)
Reality show development
It was reported in 2007 that Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's World of Wonders Productions would be developing a reality show featuring Star[52] and promise of "glamour and sexual tension."[3] Star was also reported to be in talks with E! to carry the show.[53] However, in June 2009, when asked in an interview with OrangeCounty.com "When's the reality show coming?" Star said:“ I've [had] some big meetings with MTV but I'm trying to decided which route I want to take. I don't want to do a dating show, some Bret Michaels, "Daisy of Love" crap. I don't wanna have to fake it. I'm pitching the idea about doing a show about my family because they're all really insane. They're ready for the world to see how stupid they are. I'm the normal one and they're all psycho. ”
—Jeffree Star, OrangeCounty.com[54]
Merchandise
Star's T-shirts, hoodies and accessories were ranked #1 on Hottopic.com. He is also developing a fragrance called "Fierce", which he says will smell like "vanilla and cotton candy."
