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 Sydney’s GLBT and drag community is reeling from the news that well-known drag performer Atlanta Georgia has passed away at the age of 36.
While it was initially believed that she had passed away on Thursday, September 4, an autopsy indicated that Atlanta (real name Paul McCarter) died on Wednesday, September 3, from a colloid cyst, which caused a brain condition called hydrocephalus.
She was due to undergo an operation for the condition at St Vincent’s Hospital on Monday.
Atlanta, who performed at a wide range of Sydney venues during her career – including The Imperial, The Flinders, The Albury, DCM and the Kings Cross Hotel – was born in Newcastle, but was raised in Melbourne. She moved to Sydney in the early 1990s.
After becoming one of Sydney’s most successful drag performers of the late ’90s and early 2000s – scoring a Drag Industry Variety Award (DIVA) ‘Rising Star’ gong in 1998, and performing at several Mardi Gras and Sleaze parties – Atlanta all but gave up drag to focus on a full-time career in nursing.
Close friend and fellow drag performer Penny Tration said Atlanta would be remembered as “a loud, colourful, fabulous person that you couldn’t ignore”.
“She was one of those people that you either loved or loathed – but even if you loathed her, you couldn’t help but be riveted by her,” she told SX.
Drag queen Maxi Shield, who performed with Atlanta in the Fame/Flashdance show at the 2004 Mardi Gras, described Atlanta’s passing as “a huge loss”.
“Atlanta was just like this big cartoon – she very loud and colourful, with make-up that literally glowed from across the room,” she said.
Atlanta played an integral role in her own drag career, she recalled, giving Maxi her first break in The Flinders Hotel show ‘Fast Food Follies’.
Penny Clifford, one of the founding members of DIVA, remembered Atlanta as “fabulous, funny gal who always had the most fantastic frocks”.
“She was a very talented performer; one of those people who was always entertaining,” said Clifford. Farren Heit, Penny Tration and Maxi Shield performed several classic Atlanta numbers in a tribute at Pollies Follies, at the Stonewall Hotel on Sunday night. A funeral service for Atlanta will be held at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Darlinghurst (corner of Darlinghurst Road and Oxford Street) at 1.30pm on Thursday, September 11, followed by a wake at Slide (41 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst). In lieu of flowers, funeral attendees have been asked to donate money to ACON, with an ACON collector in attendance. Organisers have requested that attendees wear smart attire, preferably with a touch of the colour orange, and that people do not come in drag, so as not to draw attention away from the purpose of the event. A tribute page commemorating Atlanta Georgia has also been set up on social networking site Facebook.
IMAGE: Paul McCarter as Atlanta Georgia. (COURTESY: Paul McJannet)
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