Honey Davenport facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Honey Davenport
Davenport in 2020
Born	James Clark (1985-08-13) August 13, 1985 (age 38) West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Other names	Sir Honey Davenport
Occupation	Drag queen singer disc jockey
Years active	2008–present
Known for	RuPaul's Drag Race (season 11)
Spouse(s)	John Heath-Clark ​ (m. 2012)​
Relatives	Lee Daniels (cousin)
Musical career
Genres	Electronic synth-pop
Instruments	Vocals
Labels	Chew Fu
Associated acts	Jayse Vegas Kareem McJagger Orion Simprini Electrohoney The Hunties Peppermint

James Heath-Clark (born August 13, 1985), known professionally as Honey Davenport, is an American drag performer, singer, songwriter, actor and activist. She centers most of her art on social justice themes.

Early life

Heath-Clark was born James Clark on August 13, 1985, in West Philadelphia. He was raised primarily by his mother, who taught him to express his feelings by rapping.

Heath-Clark began writing poetry about social justice when he was 10 years old. Also interested in music, he was a member of his church choir and started writing songs at 13. He practiced boxing as a childhood hobby and took up spoken word poetry as a teenager. In high school, he was in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC), where he achieved the rank of squadron commander and served as captain of his rifle team. While attending the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts when he was 15, Heath-Clark and a female friend went to a "come as you are not" party costumed as one another; he cites this as his first time dressing in drag. At 17, he moved to New York City to study musical theatre at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. For a time, he lived in Harlem, on the same block as Drag Race season 6 contestant Vivacious, season 2 contestant Sahara Davenport and season 9 runner-up Peppermint.

Path to drag

After college, Heath-Clark was in the cast of the Broadway national tour of Hairspray. It was there that he had his first experience with drag as a performance art, and this motivated him to subsequently take up work as a backup dancer for Peppermint for four years. Heath-Clark's first performance in drag was on April 20, 2008, and his first paid appearance as Honey Davenport was at a show with Bob the Drag Queen.

Career

Davenport performing a lip sync in New York in 2019

In the early 2010s, Davenport fronted Electrohoney, a synth-pop band that released an eponymous album in 2013. Shortly after the album's completion, the band created and starred in The Electric Highway, a live, interactive rock opera featuring a soundtrack of their songs. All three members of Electrohoney—Davenport, SteveX and Jesse Gray—as well as Deja Davenport, Sherry Vine and Jeremy Xtravaganza, played major roles. J. C. Alvarez of EDGE Media Network reviewed the show favorably. In summer 2013, Davenport acted in the off-Broadway show The Orion Experience, a sci-fi musical directed by Travis Greisler and set to a glam rock soundtrack by The Orion Experience.

In 2015, Davenport and Orion collaborated again, this time producing a single called "T.R.O.U.B.L.E". The same year, she appeared on an episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen as a Whitney Houston impersonator.

Davenport at RuPaul's DragCon LA 2019

In February 2020, Davenport and Aja released "Draw the Blood", a collaborative single whose music video marked Davenport's first directorial credit. The song debuted at number 26 on iTunes.

As of February 2021^[update], Davenport hosted a monthly Twitch show called Something of a Different Color, which featured a cast of POC performers. The third season of Da Fuq premiered in May of that year.

Honey Davenport at RuPaul's DragCon LA, 2022

In November 2021, Davenport and Manila Luzon released a collaborative single and music video called "Love Is God", the first song off of Davenport's five-track EP of the same name, which debuted in January 2022. Love Is God spans genres including pop, disco, house and reggaeton, and it features collaborations with Kevin Aviance, LaLa Ri, Jackie Cox and Tammie Brown. The music video for "Thrive", the track with Aviance, was released together with the EP. A short musical film titled Love Is God: The Visual Album, consisting of "a story woven together by all the songs on the EP", was scheduled to come out later in 2022. Davenport directed the film.

In June 2023, Davenport debuted a single called "Mighty Legendary". A "Legends Only" remix of the song, featuring Alaska Thunderfuck, was released with an accompanying music video in September of that year. The video, sponsored by the online PrEP provider Mistr, was partially filmed at the Trixie Motel.

Davenport is to release a line of perfume called Pollen 8 and a makeup line called Bee Yourself. She is also working on a musical collaboration with Jan Sport and a podcast called The Wake and Bake with Jasmine Masters.

Activism

Davenport has said that it is important to her to use her career in drag to help others, and she often bases her looks, performances and music on political themes.

Personal life

Heath-Clark and his husband, John, wed on December 31, 2012, at the Hartley House in Hell's Kitchen. The two have a pet cat. Heath-Clark resided in New York City until late 2019, when he relocated to Los Angeles.

As of May 2020, he keeps a vegan diet.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Filmography

Film

Television

Internet series

Theatre