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Houston’s drag scene is here, get used to it.<\/p>\n
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Houston’s drag scene is one of the most dynamic and diverse in the country. We have it all, from pageant to comedy to dancing queens. Seven days a week, you can see your favorite queen at karaoke, bingo, brunch or your favorite club<\/a>.<\/p>\n And they’re not going anywhere. Texas lawmakers have spent the last few years targeting drag queens with legislation<\/a> that falsely frames them as something dangerous or inappropriate. But drag, in Houston and around the world, continues to thrive as an art form rooted in joy, resistance and radical self-expression.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look at some of the artists making Houston a place where drag doesn\u2019t just survive \u2014 it thrives.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Call her mother. Chevelle Brooks is a drag icon in Texas and far beyond, with a legacy that has influenced and inspired a long line of entertainers. She’s known for high-energy performances and regularly performs and hosts around the country. Her drag family tree includes Mistress\u00a0Isabelle Brooks and the late Jiggly\u00a0Caliente, both of whom competed on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”<\/p>\n HOUSTON PRIDE GUIDE 2026: Drag brunches, superstar DJs, an early parade and more throughout June<\/a><\/p>\n Roxanne Collins as Tina Turner<\/p>\n Roxanne Collins<\/p>\n Roxanne Collins has been entertaining audiences for more than three decades. She’s a transgender\u00a0showgirl and celebrity impersonator, known throughout Houston for her spot-on Tina Turner. “I want everyone who comes to my shows to leave feeling just a little bit happier than when they arrived,” Collins says. You can see her weekly at Barcode, where she is show director. She also does a great Chaka Khan.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Tommie Ross<\/p>\n courtesy<\/p>\n The word legend could have been invented for Tommie Ross. The\u00a0transgender\u00a0performer has been crowned Miss Black America, Miss Gay USofA and Miss Continental, among other titles. She was instrumental in desegregating drag competitions. But she says her proudest moment to date was being the first black\u00a0trans woman named Pride Houston’s female-identifying grand marshal in 2020.<\/p>\n The “Drag Race” favorite moved to Houston almost three years ago and loves to have friends over for pool parties. She’s also hoping to get more bookings in the city she now calls home. “I know how to sell a club, and I know how to speak on a microphone. I’ve been in my grown woman era now,” she says. Anyone who has seen Silky onstage knows she has the goods.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The grande dame of drag is a trailblazing transgender\u00a0performer whose career spans more than six decades. She’s from Honolulu and has won dozens of pageant titles nationwide, including Miss Afro-America 1968 and Miss Gay USA 1981. Though Houston is now home, she is recognized as a drag and trans\u00a0pioneer across the country. Her story was chronicled in the book “Forever Her Mother’s Son: The Dina Jacobs Story.”<\/p>\n Glamour, sass and over-the-top beauty are Alexye’us Paris’ calling cards. She’s been doing drag since 1997 and can be seen weekly at Barcode and the Houston Eagle. Paris has won many titles during her two-plus decades of performing, including Miss Gay Houston, Texas USofA 2026. She’s also smart and funny on social media.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Jazell Royale on ‘Queen of the Universe’ Season 2.<\/p>\n Guy Levy\/Guy Levy\/World of Wonder\/Paramou<\/p>\n Jazell Royale, who is originally from Florida, now calls Houston home. The transgender\u00a0icon was the first Black woman to win the Miss International Queen pageant, a Thailand-based competition for trans women. In 2020, her lip sync performance of CeCe Peniston’s “He Luvs Me Too” went viral. She’s a longtime advocate for HIV care and safe sex. And she should have won “Queen of the Universe” Season 2.<\/p>\n This Houston native started her drag career while attending\u00a0Texas A&M University. (Class of 2013!) At 6-foot-7, she strikes a commanding figure onstage. Her drag name was inspired by the iconic Lady Gaga and Beyonc\u00e9 “Telephone” music video, and she does\u00a0illusions of everyone from Patti LaBelle to Madea. She has frequently made the top 10 at Miss Gay Texas America and is known for her sickening choreography.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Lady B<\/p>\n This diva\u00a0Latina has made a name for herself throughout Texas and beyond with high-energy performances. She’s also a recording artist and released the album “Voodoo Queen” in 2022, which features a mix of genres. It includes a duet with Paul Luna, another Houston singer.<\/p>\n Muffy Blake Vanderbilt III<\/p>\n courtesy<\/p>\n MBV3 started doing drag as part of the\u00a0Dessie’s Drag Race competition. She’s quickly become one of the city’s busiest and most ambitious queens. The “bubblegum princess Disney unicorn” can be seen performing at clubs all over town. She was also part of\u00a0“Camp Wannakiki,”<\/a> a drag reality competition on\u00a0OutTV.<\/p>\n If you don’t know Kofi, you don’t know Houston drag. She’s the grand dame, the queen bee. Call her mother. She has\u00a0been entertaining crowds for more than 40 years and was host of the popular\u00a0“So You Think You Can Drag” competition. “Your personality offstage is what makes you a success onstage,”\u00a0Kofi says. “If they love you as a person, they will adore you as a entertainer.” She was sidelined by a stroke in 2025 but has recently returned to the stage.<\/p>\n Blackberri is a “thicc bearded lady who is the funniest girl in the room and loves to make people smile.” She first stepped onstage in 2016 during a local drag contest. Since then, Blackberri has become one of the city’s most popular queens and has worked hard to build a national profile. She reached new heights as a contestant on the Shudder reality series “Dragula,” making it all the way to the finale, and returned\u00a0in 2025 for a “Titans” series featuring past favorites. She was featured in the 2023 Pride campaign for Yitty, Lizzo’s shapewear line. You can see Blackberri all over Houston and beyond.<\/p>\n Mistress Isabelle Brooks\u00a0<\/p>\n SantiagoFelipe.com<\/p>\n The first Houston queen to compete on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Mistress Isabelle Brooks made it all the way to the Season 15 finale and returned on “All Stars” 10 to create more chaos. The Houston native has been doing drag since she was 16 and calls her style “over-the-top traditional drag with a modern twist.” She performs regularly throughout the city and hosts fellow Ru girls at South Beach nightclub monthly.<\/p>\n LaRue, who started doing drag in 2015, says she will “always serve you sexy, glamour, she will always give you the fantasy, dahling.” But you’ll still never be quite sure what she’s going to do. A slow and sexy ballad? A fast male rap? A 20-minute Selena mini-concert? Yes, yes and yas, queen. See her everywhere, from Ripcord to South Beach to Boheme to Rich’s.<\/p>\n Miss Majors started doing drag in August 2021 and quickly established herself in the city. She says drag is her “love letter to my childhood” and loves performing for crowds. In 2024, she was crowned Miss So You Think You Can Drag 2024. She’s a winner, baby.<\/p>\n Lana Blake is a Houston icon. She has been performing for more than three decades and is a former Miss Texas\u00a0USofA Classic. You can see her weekly at Barcode (Thursdays) and Michael’s Outpost (Fridays and Saturdays). The Saturday gig,\u00a0Eyecons, is Houston’s longest-running celebrity illusion show. Blake performs as Cher, Madonna, Barbara Streisand, Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper and others.<\/p>\n DLB\u00a0isn’t just a drag queen. She’s a drag mogul. She was crowned Miss Gay America 2024, one of the biggest titles in all of drag pageantry. She was also Miss Gay Texas America in 2014, was first runner-up in the 2019 Miss Gay America Pageant and hosts the long-running “Dessie\u2019s Drag Race” competition. (Any Houston queen worth her sequins has entered.) Her repertoire includes illusions\u00a0of Janis Joplin,\u00a0Pink, Taylor Swift<\/a>,\u00a0Lucille Ball, Lady Gaga and\u00a0Stevie Nicks.<\/p>\n Ross is a core cast member of Eye Cons at Michael’s Outpost, a long-running celebrity impersonation revue, where she channels everyone from Whitney Houston to Anita Baker. She has an eye for vintage and sparkle, and she’s dedicated to mentoring and uplifting younger drag artists. And if you haven’t guessed, she loves Diahann Carroll.<\/p>\ncourtesy<\/p>\n
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