Sylvester James Jr. (September 6, 1947 – December 16, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter who went by the moniker Sylvester. He was most known in the late 1970s and early 1980s for his flamboyant and androgynous look, falsetto singing voice, and successful disco records in the genres of disco, rhythm & blues, and soul.
Sylvester was born to an African-American household in Watts, Los Angeles. At the age of 22, he joined the avant-garde drag troupe the Cockettes. Sylvester and his Hot Band, a rock act that recorded two commercially unsuccessful albums, were fronted by him.
“You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)” hits from Sylvester’s first solo album Step II (1978). Both of these were big hits in the United States and Europe. Sylvester was an activist who worked to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
During the late 1970s, Sylvester earned the title “Queen of Disco,” and he received special acclaim in San Francisco, where he was handed the key to the city.
Where is Sylvester the singer now?
He died of AIDS-related problems in 1988, giving his future royalties to San Francisco-based HIV/AIDS nonprofits.
He was posthumously inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in 2005, and his life has been documented in a biography as well as the subject of a documentary and a musical.
