| Birth Name: | Aaron Robert Coady[1] | ||||||
| Birth Date: | 28 November 1981 | ||||||
| Birth Place: | Newton, Iowa, U.S. | ||||||
| Years Active: | 2004–present | ||||||
| Known For: | RuPaul's Drag Race (season 4) winner | ||||||
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Sharon Needles (born November 28, 1981) is the stage name of Aaron Robert Coady, an American drag performer and recording artist. A self-described "stupid genius, reviled sweetheart, and PBR princess", Needles rose to international attention on the fourth season of the Logo reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, where she quickly became a fan favorite and was subsequently crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar" in April 2012.[2] [3]
After winning Drag Race, Needles released her debut album PG-13 in January 2013.[4] It debuted at number 186 on the Billboard 200 and number nine on Dance/Electronic Albums. Later, Needles released the US Dance/Electronic chart top-ten albums Taxidermy (2015), Battle Axe (2017), Spoopy (2019), and Absolute Zero (2022).
In the late 2010s and early 2020s, Needles was subject to marked criticism in response to allegations of racially insensitive behavior and sexual misconduct. Nevertheless, she remains active and her official YouTube channel has accumulated over 11 million views ; five of her videos surpass a million views on YouTube, with one surpassing 2.8 million views on YouTube.
Aaron Coady was born to Joan Coady[5] on November 28, 1981, in Newton, Iowa.[6] [7] [8] He has been candid in discussing his childhood years growing up in Iowa as a difficult time when he faced anti-gay and anti-"outsider" harassment, which prompted him to drop out of Newton High School before he could complete his high school education.[6] [7] [9] [10]
Coady began doing drag in 1997[11] and, in 2004, he moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began working as a professional drag performer with the stage name Sharon Needles (a pun on the phrase "sharin' needles") in nightclubs and various other venues with the drag troupe "the Haus of Haunt",[12] which Needles describes as "one punk rock, messy mash up of very talented, fucked up weirdos".[8]
In November 2011, it was announced that Needles had been selected to compete as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[13] The season premiered on January 30, 2012, and with Needles winning the first challenge she became an instant stand-out for her "ghoulish" fashion sense and unconventional make-up choices.[8] [14] [15] [16] [17] On the night of the premiere episode, Entertainment Weekly columnist Tanner Stransky hailed Needles' macabre style as "drop dead genius" and rhetorically asked "Is Sharon Needles the most 'sickening' (a drag term for 'fabulous') contestant ever?"[16]
Throughout the fourth season of Drag Race, Needles endeared herself to audiences and became a favorite of the media, judges, and viewers alike for her quick wit, confidence, humility and uniqueness, as well as for her "transgressive" aesthetic.[8] [14] [15] [17] [18] On March 27, 2012, Lady Gaga tweeted – "Sharon Needles looks FABULOUS 2night on drag race. Very Born This Way outfit/fame monster wig. Any rentals for my tour? #needthatbodysuit."[19] [20] Needles herself admitted that she was ambivalent in believing that she could win, stating, "(B)eing a comedic, campy, shtick queen and seeing how far those types of queens made it in past seasons, I would have been shocked if I made it past the first day."[14]
In a departure from previous seasons of Drag Race, where rumors of previous winners had leaked before the final episodes could air, the decision was made not to pre-tape the finale episode announcing the season's winner.[7] [21] Instead, RuPaul decided to give fans an opportunity to voice their opinions as to who should win before taping of the final episode on April 25, 2012.[7] [21] For the taping, three outcomes were filmed announcing each of the "final 3" as the winner, with the true outcome only known to RuPaul and a select few involved in the editing.[7] [21] The finale episode aired on April 30, 2012, when it was announced that Needles had been crowned "America's Next Drag Superstar".[7] [22]
In June 2012, Needles won the Facebook vote to appear as a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, but declined, as the reigning champion, to participate in the competition.[23] She also confirmed that her replacement in the competition would be fellow RuPaul's Drag U professor and the runner-up in the Facebook voting, Pandora Boxx.[23] Needles became a horror host in October 2012 when she began presenting horror and suspense films airing on the Logo network under the series title Fearce![24] Needles also became the face of an advertising campaign by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals promoting vegetarianism,[25] appearing on billboards throughout the United States. In June 2012, the Pittsburgh City Council issued an official proclamation declaring June 12, 2012, "Sharon Needles Day."[26] [27] [28]
On January 29, 2013, Needles released her debut studio album PG-13, which debuted at number 186 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 3,000 copies in its first week.[29] In April 2013, Needles was featured on the single "RuPaulogize," from Willam Belli's debut album The Wreckoning.[30]
In September 2015, Needles released "Dracula" as the lead single from her second studio album. Needles released her second studio album titled Taxidermy on October 31, 2015. The second single, released on August 5, 2016, was "Hollywoodn't". The music video was once again directed by Santiago Felipe and explored the dark side of Hollywood. In the video, Needles portrayed Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. the Black Dahlia, Sharon Tate and Jayne Mansfield. Her third studio album, Battle Axe, debuted on October 6, 2017, along with a video for the single of the same name. The second single from the album was "Andy Warhol Is Dead", released on November 5, 2017.[31] She contributed to the compilation album Christmas Queens 3 (2017).
Sharon Needles was also voted the "Best Drag Performer" of Pittsburgh 2015 by the staff of the Pittsburgh City Paper.[32]
Needles lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[33]
Needles was in a four-year relationship with fellow RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Justin Honard, better known by his stage name, Alaska Thunderfuck; they ended their relationship in 2013 but remained friends.[34] [35] [36] Needles was also in a long-term relationship with special FX artist Chad O'Connell. The two began dating in late 2013 and got engaged in 2015.[37] They broke up in summer 2020.[38]
Needles has been widely criticized for her consistent and frequent usage of the word "nigger", with some recounting incidents where she used the word in public.[39] [40] Needles has also been criticized for use of heavy racial imagery in her show, with activists Enakai and Maura Ciseaux saying that "by employing racist language and imagery in her act, Needles may be perpetuating [a racist] environment."[41] A former Drag Race producer named Needles as one of three former queens to be "one hundred percent banned" from the franchise, in part due to her racism and other allegations against her.[42]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Dance [43] | US Indie | ||
| PG-13 |
| 186 | 9 | 25 |
| Taxidermy |
| — | 11 | — |
| Battle Axe |
| — | — | — |
| Absolute Zero |
| _ | 3 | _ |
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Why Do You Think You Are Nuts?" | 2013 | PG-13 |
| "Dressed to Kill" | 2014 | |
| "I Wish I Were Amanda Lepore" (featuring Amanda Lepore) | ||
| "Dracula" | 2015 | Taxidermy |
| "Hollywoodn't" | 2016 | |
| "Battle Axe" | 2017 | Battle Axe |
| "Andy Warhol Is Dead" | ||
| "#Liftmeup" (with Greko, Debbie Harry, Amanda Lepore, and Peppermint) | 2019 | rowspan="2" |
| "Lift Them Up 2020" (with Greko, Debbie Harry, Amanda Lepore, and Peppermint) | 2020 | |
| "Absolute Zero" | 2022 | Absolute Zero |
| "Flamin' Hot" | ||
| Song | Year | Other Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "RuPaulogize" | 2013 | Willam Belli | The Wreckoning |
| "Supermodel Inc." | 2014 | Super Electric Party Machine | Super Electric Party Machine |
| "Jingle Bells" | 2015 | N/A | Christmas Queens |
| "Snow Machine" | 2016 | N/A | Christmas Queens 2 |
| "The Murder of the Lawson Family" | 2017 | N/A | Christmas Queens 3 |
| "I Don't Give a F**k" | 2018 | Jiggly Caliente | T.H.O.T. Process |
| "Brothers in Our World" | N/A | Christmas Queens 4 |
| Song | Year | Director |
|---|---|---|
| "This Club Is a Haunted House" | 2013 | Michael Sharkey |
| "Call Me on the Ouija Board" | Santiago Felipe | |
| "Why Do You Think You Are Nuts?" | Marina Pfenning & Tony Balko | |
| "Dressed to Kill" | 2014 | Ben Simkins |
| "I Wish I Were Amanda Lepore" | ||
| "Dracula" | 2015 | Santiago Felipe |
| "Jingle Bells" | Steve Willis | |
| "Hollywoodn't" | 2016 | Santiago Felipe |
| "Battle Axe" | 2017 | |
| "Andy Warhol Is Dead" | Ben Simkins | |
| "666" | 2018 | |
| "Monster Mash" | 2019 | Brad Hammer |
| "Absolute Zero" | 2022 | Assaad Yacoub |
| scope=“row” | "Flamin’ Hot" |
| Year | Title season | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself | Season 4 - Winner | |
| RuPaul's Drag U | ||||
| 2012-2013 | Fearce! | Logo TV original | [45] | |
| 2013 | Season 9, Episode 67: "Laura Linney & John Benjamin Hickey" | [46] | ||
| She's Living for This | Season 2, Episode 1 | [47] | ||
| 2016 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 8, Episode 1 | ||
| 2017 | Good Behavior | Tonya Hardon | Season 2, Episode 5, "You Could Discover Me". | [48] |
| Year | Title | Artist | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | "Glamazon" | RuPaul | [49] | |
| 2013 | "RuPaulogize" | Willam | [50] | |
| nowrap | "You Seemed Shady" | nowrap | Pandora Boxx & Adam Barta | [51] |
| 2015 | "Hieeee" | Alaska Thunderfuck | [52] | |
| 2019 | "Scores" | Kahanna Montrese | [53] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | RuPaul Drives | Herself | Guest | [54] |
| Ring My Bell | Guest | [55] | ||
| Sharon Needles' Horroscope | Host | [56] | ||
| Pure Camp | Co-Host, alongside Alaska Thunderfuck | [57] | ||
| Cooking with Needles | Host | [58] | ||
| 2014 | WOW Shopping Network | Guest | [59] | |
| Alyssa's Secret | Guest | [60] | ||
| Let the Music Play | Guest | [61] | ||
| 2015 | Drag Queens React | Episode: Drag Queens Reading Mean Comments - Part 3 | [62] | |
| 2016 | Bestie$ for Ca$h | Guest, with Heklina | [63] | |
| 2017 | COSMO Queens | Guest | [64] |