A Toronto queen after our own hearts, Tynomi Banks is a force to be reckoned with, and has a new live show that’s going to honour some of the most iconic Black divas of all time.
Having grown up in the city and spent her life moving around the GTA, she’s a hometown girl turned superstar. Banks will soon be hitting the stage for her latest show, Solid Gold.
Running from Oct. 10-12 at Toronto’s Crow’s Theatre Tynomi Banks: Solid Gold will be a dazzling show paying homage to Black icons through a performance lasting over an hour.
“[Solid Gold] goes through different divas throughout the times. So, I will be doing Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross and the last one, Donna Summer,” Banks told Queer & Now.
The Canada’s Drag Race star shared that it has been a while since she had a hometown show, and she is excited to be back. However, Banks explained that at the beginning of her career, before the popularity of RuPaul’s Drag Race catapulted drag into mainstream culture, she struggled to gain support from the local 2SLGBTQ+ community 18 years ago as a queen in Toronto.
“When I started drag, it was actually my community [that] I didn’t find really supportive. Like, even though we promote safe space, it’s like, we’re really kind of separate sometimes within the [queer] community,” Banks shared, adding that she is grateful for the way that Drag Race has changed public opinion on drag performers in a lot of ways.
Another way things have changed? The internet. In addition to providing new ways for drag performers to share their work and gain support, Banks explained that she began her drag career at a time without the makeup tutorials and inspiration that are now available to queens (and the rest of us) with the click of a social media app. This meant learning drag the old-fashioned way, studying local performers like the late Toronto drag star, Michelle Ross.
“I learned to do my makeup because my drag mom did half my pace. And I would learn that way. We didn’t have tutorials,” she laughed.
HOW DRAG SAVED TYNOMI BANKS
Banks says drag has changed her life through the opportunities her work has presented.
“The biggest opportunity was singing with Nelly Furtado. I just did it last week on stage. Like, who saw that coming? She saw me before I could see myself as a big star,” Banks shared. “That’s a goal always, to be a big star, but she really opened up many doors and allowed me to share the same space as her, as she sees me as her equal, just because of drag.”
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Banks also shared that drag saved her at a time when she was unsure of her life path.
When she’s not in drag, Banks is known as Sheldon Orlando McIntosh. When McIntosh came out as queer, but before he began studying drag, he experienced something all too familiar to many 2SLGBTQ+ people, feeling lost.
“I felt like there was a certain plan for life [that] was put on to me. My mom expected me to marry, have children, and do all that. And then when I came out to her, I felt a little lost, because I was like, ‘Did I let her down?’ Because this is not the life [she] wanted [for me],” the drag star explained.
“So, when I started doing drag, it just opened up her eyes, opened up my eyes, and it just presented a different path with more opportunities. So, that’s what I mean by it saved me.”
The drag superstar says she always knew she was destined for more than a mundane life, and drag has given her the opportunities to lead an exciting, full life.
“I need to fill the roof with my opportunities, and I was always looking for bigger spaces to fill with that void, and drag has allowed me to do all that.”
WORDS OF ADVICE FOR YOUNG QUEER YOUTH
After achieving success as a multi-hyphenate performer, Banks has a lot of wisdom to share with young members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
First, follow your dreams.
“If you have a dream, always stick by it, because it will make you the happiest. Your path, your chosen path, what you want to do,” Banks said. “Do not let anyone with their negativity interfere.”
Additionally, lean on your family, chosen or biological, for the support you need in living your truth, no matter what that means.
“I strongly believe in family, chosen or not chosen. Really my friends, my chosen family, have got me through when I didn’t feel like my actual blood didn’t understand me and support me in my decisions,” Banks shared, explaining that she often felt the need to prove herself to her family as a queer person.
“While my friends and my chosen family were always there from the get-go, it’s not to say that [biological family] are bad or anything, it’s they just don’t know you in a deeper way than your chosen family.”
Tynomi Banks: Solid Gold will be running at the Crow’s Theatre from Oct. 10-12. Tickets are available here.
