Legend: Isis Starr

ISIS STARR

Around the world twice on a g-string, Isis Starr began her burlesque career against her mother’s Christian Southern Baptist beliefs. Isis had no problem crossing the picket lines that her mother took part in, even convincing the rest of the dancers, band, and bar staff to greet her as “Mom” as they crossed the lines as well. Eventually her mother grudgingly accepted her performing, as Isis told her, “I can fulfill my greatness on this stage.” While her first husband was a 6’2″ Diana Ross impersonator, Isis Starr would often have liaisons with her fellow dancers. She was best friends with her coworkers, and that friendship naturally progressed to sexual expression. In the late ’70s, early ’80s Isis and a dancer out of the Royal Academy of Dance were featured as the only lesbian act in London. This prolific performer who has performed internationally in Asia, the Middle East, all over Europe, and cut her teeth on Broadway in San Francisco’s North Beach, performed earlier this year at the Helsinki Burlesque Festival. We’re so proud to have her as a local inspiration.