Night Fever guest · Season 1, Episode 10
Joey Arias
The cabaret shapeshifter who channels Billie Holiday.
Timeline
Late 1970s
Emerges in New York's punk and downtown performance scene.
1979–83
Performs alongside Klaus Nomi, with David Bowie and the Basquiat circle close by.
1990s–2000s
Builds a decades-long cabaret career channelling Billie Holiday, from New York to Las Vegas.
2025
Profiled by NPR - "I want to live to be at least 200 years old" - while still touring summer cabaret shows.
What they are doing now
Performing regularly, including Provincetown summer seasons. The current drag generation treats him like royalty!
Scenes & rooms
Connected to
In the episodes
39 mentions across all episodes - S1E2 1 · S1E7 2 · S1E10 26 · S2E3 2 · S3E6 1 · S4E10 2 · S6E3 1 · S6E7 1 · S6E8 3
- S1E2 · Michael Musto · 1 mention in this episode
Club 57 star. Links to his Night Fever episode
FashionDrag and cabaret style icon
- S2E3 · Susanne Bartsch · 2 mentions in this episode
As told on the show, he helped pull Lady Hennessy's stocking all the way into a snowy Japanese town square. Links to his Night Fever episode
FashionPerformer known for his looks
- S3E6 · Eric Goode · 1 mention in this episode
Eric says he couldn't get a job from Fiorucci or Joey Arias. Links to his Night Fever episode
FashionFiorucci shop star and performer
- S1E7 · Rudolf Piper · 2 mentions in this episode
Named by Rudolf among Fiorucci's shop staff, and as Ann Magnuson's stage partner at Danceteria
- S6E3 · Chi Chi Valenti & Johnny Dynell · 1 mention in this episode
Also at that Stevie Nicks concert, a Stevie fan from the downtown drag scene
- S4E10 · Ann Magnuson · 2 mentions in this episode
James recalls Ann performing with him at Danceteria, and says he has talked about her on the show
FashionCabaret glamour
- S6E8 · William Norwich · 3 mentions in this episode
Billy took Blaine Trump to see him; Joey was one of Billy's first bosses in New York, managing Fiorucci when Billy sold books and postcards there
- S6E7 · Sally Randall · 1 mention in this episode
The executioner in Sally's Jesus Christ Superstar
- S1E10 · Joey Arias · 26 mentions in this episode
The guest: drag goddess, singer, performance artist and actor - Klaus Nomi's partner in crime, Bowie's backing singer on Saturday Night Live, Fiorucci's top stylist. Links to his Night Fever episode
On the scene timeline
October 1978 · 77 White Street
The Mudd Club opens downtown
Steve Mass's Tribeca answer to Studio 54: art-damaged, cheap and open late. Basquiat is in the crowd, Klaus Nomi is on the stage.
15 December 1979 · Saturday Night Live, NBC
Bowie sings on Saturday Night Live with Klaus Nomi and Joey Arias
Three songs, three costumes, one pink poodle. The most famous crossover between downtown performance art and network television.
1981 · 101 Avenue A
The Pyramid Club redefines drag
Avenue A's tiny bar turns drag from lip-sync glamour into punk performance art, and launches the careers that become Wigstock.
Labor Day 1984 · Tompkins Square Park
The first Wigstock in Tompkins Square Park
A hungover afterthought by Lady Bunny and friends becomes the outdoor drag festival that runs for decades.
1993 · New York
RuPaul's Supermodel (You Better Work) charts
The Pyramid Club's own goes from Wigstock stages to the Billboard charts, and World of Wonder starts filming.
2003 · New York-New York, Las Vegas
Joey Arias joins Zumanity in Las Vegas
Cirque du Soleil's adult show makes downtown cabaret a nightly Strip fixture for four years.
2 February 2009 · Logo TV
RuPaul's Drag Race premieres
World of Wonder turns everything the Pyramid Club invented into a global television format. Michelle Visage joins the panel in season three.
2021 · World of Wonder, Los Angeles
Night Fever starts recording the survivors
World of Wonder's podcast sits the scene's originals down one by one, and they keep naming each other.
1976 · New York
New York
Joey arrived in 1976, kissed the sky and said 'New York City, I'm yours'
1979 ·
David Bowie on Saturday Night Live (1979)
Joey and Klaus sang backing for Bowie
1976 · The Toilet
The Toilet
One of the clubs Joey and Bo toured in 1976
1986 · Limelight
Limelight
Joey's first Billie Holiday in 1986; and the Club Kids era
1976 · Crisco Disco
Crisco Disco
One of the clubs Joey and Bo toured in 1976
1976 · Les Mouches
Les Mouches
Another 1976 stop
1976 · The Gilded Grape
The Gilded Grape
Another 1976 stop