Milwaukee, WI · dance-pop · DJ set

Trixie Mattel

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The drag superstar behind the decks — camp, pop edits, and pure joy, with folk-album credentials in the back pocket.

Trixie Mattel is the stage persona of Brian Firkus, born in Milwaukee and raised in Marinette County, Wisconsin. Firkus has Ojibwe heritage through his maternal grandmother, and the name Trixie began as a taunt from an abusive stepfather before Firkus reclaimed it; his grandfather, a country musician, taught him guitar as a teenager after he moved in with his grandparents.

Firkus competed on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race before winning the third season of All Stars, and has since judged on the spinoff Queen of the Universe. With fellow drag performer Katya Zamolodchikova he formed the duo Trixie and Katya, known for the web series UNHhhh and its television spinoff, as well as the Netflix series I Like to Watch and the podcast The Bald and the Beautiful.

His music began as folk and country, with the albums Two Birds and One Stone both reaching number 16 on the Billboard Folk Albums chart. Barbara moved the sound toward electro-folk, and The Blonde & Pink Albums, a double release, pushed further into power pop, tracing the same shift from acoustic songwriting toward the synth-driven material that now shapes his DJ sets.

Beyond music and television, Firkus founded the cosmetics line Trixie Cosmetics in 2019 and later opened a themed resort in Palm Springs, documented in the series Trixie Motel. He has also co-written a bestselling book with Zamolodchikova and appeared on lists ranking the most influential figures in American drag.

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