The equivalent of the World Cup for queens has kicked off in true drag style in this month, stilettos flying all over the place. Rupaul’s Drag Race is back with a bang, draggin’ in a gaggle of girls ranging from funny to fishy to… Kim Chi! But these shiny new queens wouldn’t be here without the fierce mamas who stood before them – radiating beacons who bravely made a livelihood from gender-bending performances in harsher times, and looking fabulous along the way. We take a look back at the queens rocking the stage way back when, before Adore Delano even knew how to say “PARTY”.

1. Dame Edna Everage 

“Hello, possums!” This is one queen from Down Under with true staying power. Conceived in the late 1950s and delighting millions worldwide with her biting wit, convivial style and elaborate self-proclaimed ‘face furniture’. She’s the creation of comedian Barry Humphreys, but so rich and detailed a character that she warrants her own autobiography, My Gorgeous Life, which discusses her decade-spanning career as “housewife, megastar, investigative journalist, social anthropologist, children's book illustrator, chanteuse, swami, monstre sacre, polymath, adviser to British royalty, grief counselor, spin doctor, and gifted woman in the world today”. Dame Edna is a busy old queen who has truly worked it through herstory. 

Top quote: “Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century.”

2. Pepper Labeija

Even if you don’t recognise Pepper, you’ll no doubt recognise her legacy. So much that makes up the culture of drag – voguing, reading, realness – was at the heart of what she as Mother of The House of Labeija did. Already legendary in the underground world of New York’s drag balls for her ancient Egyptian-tinged performances, she rose to fame and notoriety in the documentary film Paris is Burning, where she shone as a glam, fierce, hilarious and caring queen, with biting reflections on inequality in America. Later in life she lost both her feet as a result of diabetes, but did that stop her? No way, hunny. She continued to be carried out to balls in all the splendor of a true Pharaoh, to the adoration of her fans, earning her the title of “the last remaining Queen of the Harlem drag balls.”

Top quote: “Having a vagina – that doesn’t mean you’re gonna have a fabulous life. It might in fact be worse.”

3. Divine 

Few queens remain as controversial as Divine, the larger-than-life drag monster whose partnership with filmmaker John Waters has gone down in Hollywood herstory. Big, bold and brash, one of Divine’s standout moments came in the film Pink Flamingos, where she proudly carried the dubious title of the “filthiest person alive.” To uphold her claim, Divine puts her money where her mouth is (so to speak) and consumes freshly defecated dog feces in the climactic scene. Her potty-mouth antics continued in her live stage shows, where she famously berated and shocked her audience. “I didn’t know whether she was gonna fuck me or eat me,” fellow drag performer Jackie Beat once said of Divine. Time Magazine described her as “drag queen of the century” and she remains a cult figure to this day. 

Top quote: “Kill everyone now! Condone first degree murder! Advocate cannibalism! Eat shit! Filth is my politics! Filth is my life!”

4. Lily Savage

Everyone’s favorite Scouser bird (rivalled only by Cilla Black, RIP, you BABE) rose from years of touring grotty London pubs to become one of the most familiar faces on British TV in the 1990s. Savage was that most excellent of drag concoctions – a bundle of contradictions that worked. She was a glam game-show hostess and a single mum; ultra-femme and proper filthy; a prozzie with a drinking problem known for her ultra-quick wit; a household name but morally reprehensible. That she rose to such starry highs is testament to comedian Paul O’Grady’s affable charm and dedication to his character. Savage is the kinda chick you want by your side on a big night out on the piss in Liverpool, but don’t expect to see her kind on Drag Race anytime soon.

Top Quote: “I could eat a nun’s arse through the convent railings.”

5. Vaginal Creme Davis 

Known for her refusal to walk the existing lines dominating drag performers at the time, Vaginal became the number-one proponent of the ‘terrorist drag’ movement. She was born intersex and spent her career defying conventions, fronting bands in genres varying from soul to punk and bringing her anarchic energy to short films like That Fertile Feeling in which she delivers her friend Fertile Latoya Jackson’s eleven-tuplets. She moved to Berlin in 2007 and continues to break boundaries with her avant-garde performances and visual art. This is one vaginal cream that might leave you itching for more.

Top Quote: “I’m a heavy metal priestess. I rock ass!”

6. Danny La Rue

Born to a poor Irish family who moved to London’s Soho in the 1930s, Danny La Rue grew up around the bright lights of the West End theatres and convinced himself early on he would one day stand proud as star of the stage… to the shock and horror of his mother. He defied her doubts and all expectations to make his dreams a reality, becoming queen of theatres all over the world with his hyper-camp glamour, his performances chock-a-block with delicious innuendo and his OTT celebrity impersonations, including Joan Collins and Zsa Zsa Gabor. Danny was once described as “the quintessential glamourpuss, the high priestess of the padded bra” by British comedian Bob Monkhouse. A proper old-school queen of sequins, gowns and extravagance, Danny would emerge looking like the fantasy of a peacock on acid, but would quickly remind the audience that beneath it all with lay a working-class London lad with a deep, hearty “whatcha mate!”

Top Quote: “The papers used to say I made drag respectable. Such an old-fashioned word. I just tried to do it differently, that’s all.”

7. RuPaul

We couldn’t leave the ‘Supermodel of the World’ off this list, could we? A San Diego native who suspected at age five that she was destined to be a superstar, RuPaul resolutely spent the rest of her life making it happen. Battling drug addiction and poverty, Ru’s fierce work ethic came through in the end and she can be commended for dragging drag into the mainstream with a selection of smash hit records and top modelling jobs, not to mention a certain drag talent show that’s proving pretty popular on the telly at the moment (we’re guessing you’ve heard of it?). When in full drag she’s a towering 7 feet and so beautiful she makes Helen of Troy look like Dobby the House Elf, so probably not the best person to go clubbing with if you’re feeling a tad self-conscious. But Ru’s foremost message is one of loving oneself, which is why she remains the top inspiration for would-be queens the world over.

Top Quote: “We’re all born naked. The rest is drag.”