Divine (Glen Milstead)
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Harris Glenn Milstead (born October 19, 1945 in Towson, Maryland–died March 7, 1988) was better known by his drag persona Divine.
Born to Bernard and Diana Francis Milstead, at the age of 12 the family moved to Lutherville, a suburb of Baltimore. John Waters was a childhood friend whom he met while living there.
Milstead starred in a number of films and was part of the regular cast known as the Dreamlanders. The Dreamlanders appeared in many of John Waters earlier works such as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray. Repeating their successful pairing in Polyester, in 1985 Divine appeared opposite Tab Hunter in their bigger hit Lust in the Dust.
He is also remembered as a major character in the documentary homage Divine Trash (1998) by Steve Yeager, covering the life and work of John Waters.
In the 1980s, Milstead's records were hits through America, Europe, and Australia. The typical progressive type of synthesizer disco music was composed, created, performed and produced by Bobby Orlando. Apart from singing, Milstead had only minor influence on how his music would sound. One could say these are progressive techno beats with energizing lyrics appealing to synth boppers.
In March 1988, Milstead died from an enlarged heart.
"Glenn was born before civil rights, gay rights, or women's rights...God doesn't want people created out of a Xerox machine...The tragedy is that Glenn was cut off right at the point of becoming who he really was, and the world will never see how that flower could have unfolded."
- –Reverend Leland Higginbotham at Divine's eulogy; Baltimore, Maryland, March, 1988
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Filmography
- Eat Your Makeup (1968)
- Mondo Trasho (1969)
- The Diane Linkletter Story (1969)
- Multiple Maniacs (1970)
- Pink Flamingos (1972) (aka John Waters' Pink Flamingos)
- Female Trouble (1974)
- Polyester (1981)
- Trouble in Mind (1985)
- Lust in the Dust (1985)
- Hairspray (1988)
- Out of the Dark (1989)
Discography
- My First Album (1982)
- Jungle Jezebel (1982)
- The Story So Far (1984)
- Maid In England (1988)
- The Best Of & The Rest Of (1989) (compilation)
- The 12" Collection (1993) (compilation)
- Born to Be Bad (1995) (live)
- Shoot Your Shot (1995)
- The Originals and the Remixes (1996) (2 CD compilation)
- The Best of Divine (1997) (compilation)
(all produced by Bob Orlando)
Disco and Hi-NRG dance hits (music)
- "Native Love (Step by Step)" (1982)
- "Shoot Your Shot" (1982)
- "Love Reaction" (1983)
- "Shake It Up" (1983)
- "You Think You're a Man" (1984)
- "I'm So Beautiful" (1984)
- "Walk Like a Man" (1985)
References
- Jay, Bernard (1994). Not Simply Divine. New York: Fireside. ISBN 0-671-88467-0
- Milstead, Frances; Heffernan, Kevin; and Yeager, Steve (2001). My Son Divine. Los Angeles: Alyson Books. ISBN 1555835945
External links
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- The Divine Page (http://www.dreamlandnews.com/divine/)
- Divine on Yahoo! (http://music.yahoo.com/ar-312820)
- MTV.com Divine (http://www.mtv.com/bands/az/divine/artist.jhtml)de:Divine