14. The Men of Scissor Sisters (Jake Shears, Babydaddy & Del Marquis)
In 2000, Jake Shears met Scott “Babydaddy” Hoffman while Shears was visiting a mutual friend in Kentucky. The two hit it off and soon moved to New York City where the openly gay duo became the first members of the American glam-rock band Scissor Sisters. At the time, the band performed at underground clubs in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side, with a combination of Babydaddy’s musical composition and Shears’ vocals. Shears met Derek “Del Marquis” Gruen while the two worked at the IC Guys Club, where Shears was stripping. Del Marquis joined the group as lead guitarist. The band first garnered attention with the release of their cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”, which reached No. 10 on the UK singles charts. Their debut album Scissor Sisters became the best selling album of 2004 in the UK. On their second studio album Tah Dah, one of the band’s dreams was fulfilled – Sir Elton John collaborated as pianist and co-writer for their hit “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” which reached No. 1 on the UK, Australian and European Charts, and became the band’s biggest hit to date. In June 2010, Scissor Sisters released their third and latest album Night Work which took a shift towards a more club-oriented sound. In 2004, Shears, Babydaddy, and Del Marquis were honored on OUT Magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Intriguing Gay People of the Year. Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced Kylie Minogue’s popular hit “I Believe In You.” While Shears has garnered the most amount of attention in the band with a string of gay magazine covers including OUT, The Advocate, Attitude, Butt,and Têtu, it is Babydaddy who has inadvertently become a sex symbol with bear admirers. He acknowledged this status stating, “Jake gets a lot of attention just by virtue of being the lead singer, but when boys want a little beef, they come to me.”
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