Is he…
you know…
one of those…?
nancyboy
this is
Jess Darnell (aka NANCYBOY) hails from Nashville, Tennessee and has called London home since 2016. His father served as the Death Row chaplain in Tennessee, and his mother, a nurse of 30+ years, helped deliver Miley Cyrus.
After an older gay mentor recommended Donna Summer's album On The Radio, Jess fell hard and fast for the classic disco sound. When he moved to the UK to train as an actor at a hot-shot drama school, he was introduced to house music through the daughter of Lancashire-based DJ Joe Priest. Most of his adult life has been measured in beats-per-minute ever since.
After training with London Sound Academy, nancyboy began his year-long residency at Poulet in London Bridge before making appearances across the city at Brixton Street Wear and Kraft Dalston. He’s played a multitude of parties, including London Pride and Bermondsey Street Fair, and is the creator and host of Laundry Day Disco.
His experience as a queer-identifying individual informs his mission as a performer:
“You must understand — it’s more than just disco balls to me.”
“I grew up as a closeted teenager in the American South, but I loved disco and musical theatre and jazz music — textbook cliché, I know.
I used to do a lot of lip-syncing in front of my bedroom mirror, silently dancing and make-believing I was onstage singing sexy, powerful songs, or I’d take the family car for a spin so I could sing along in private.
This music creates a space in which we can access and evoke liberation, growth, humour, love, and strength, and whenever I hear my favourite tunes get played at a club or a festival, I’m finally able to express openly the joy that this music gives me.
I’m no longer dancing alone in my bedroom or singing by myself in the car. All these years later, I’m finally letting myself be as loud and as campy as I’d like to be, playing the music I’ve always loved.
You must understand — it’s more than just disco balls to me.”
I want your love • I need your love •
I want your love • I need your love •
“when you feel pain, fall into your brothers’ love.”
Larry Mitchell, The faggots & their friends between revolutions