Michael Canterbury was Judy Garland, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner, but most notably, he was Michelle St. James.
Canterbury, who was a beloved drag queen of nearly 40 years in Charleston, died on Jan. 26. Loved ones and fans will gather for a fundraiser for a headstone and celebration of his life at Broadway in Charleston at 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Caterbury, a multiple-time pageant winner who had raised thousands of dollars for the East End AIDS Memorial Garden, was one of the few able to make a living out of performing in drag. He was still performing several nights a week.
Canterbury was from the Chesapeake area. He used to hang out outside the Grand Palace, a now-closed gay bar in Charleston, before he "finally got old enough to sneak in," according to Ted Brightwell, a longtime friend.
Canterbury was a four-time male twirler champion in the annual majorette festival.
"We're talking 30-some years ago - close to 40 years ago," Brightwell, who performs as Viki Williams, said. "It wasn't quite as cool to be that flamboyant and be gay."
Michael's grandmother Doris, who raised him as a son, was his champion. She would often be among his fans in the crowd.
"Nobody messed with him because of her," Brightwell said.
Anthony Jarrell, who performed as Bridget Nickles and Canterbury are both from the area, but they met during a picnic for the LGBT community in Columbus in 1979. They were the two finalists in a dance contest.
"He was famous for gymnastics ability," Jarrell said. "He started twisting and turning on that stage. Clothes started flying off. He won that particular dance contest. We became lifelong friends."
They came back to Charleston and realized both were interested in female impersonation.
"You know, drag started off so simply," Jarrell said. "Today it has gotten so high-tech. We were just two country boys - one from Jackson County, one from Marmet - who found a way to have a blast."
They would be in the dressing room painting their faces more feminine, and it never failed.
"Just when you were sitting there thinking you were beautiful, the door to the dressing room would fly open," Jarrell said, "And someone in a slurred tone would say 'Is Michelle St. James in the show tonight?' And that's when every one of us would realize they were there to see her. We were all in the show, but the crowd came to see her."
Canterbury "perfected his illusions, which included Judy Garland, Janet Jackson, Stevie Nicks and Tina Turner," Jarrell said.
"He was just beloved," Jarrell said. "People threw money at him. They loved his onstage antics. He could tell a joke. He could work the crowd, He could make us laugh, and whenever he did his Judy Garland 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow,' he made us cry."
"And now he's somewhere over the rainbow," he added, his voice breaking.
They mentored many queens over the years.
"Michelle would give you the dress off her back if you wanted to wear something of his, but just don't ask him to borrow a safety pin while he's lining up the show," Jarrell said. "He might bite your head off."
He was also a "man's man," Jarrell said.
"Michael Canterbury was a good man," he said. "Not just a man who wore a dress. He was a good man. He found a way to earn money, and lots of it, by putting on a dress. But at the end of the day, he was the first out of drag."
Canterbury was honest about himself years before many in the LGBT community were.
And he was always ready to do a drag show, or give a quote to the media, for the cause.
"He was a very visible person for our community," Brightwell said. "Michael was good at that. He had no qualms about saying, 'This is who I am and this is what's going on and you need to listen to us and help us along.'"
A reader from rural West Virginia called and said he used to watch Michelle St. James perform years ago, and would laugh at her because he thought that's what he was supposed to do.
This week, he called the Gazette-Mail to make sure it was running a story about her.
"He opened the door for the younger generation of people to be comfortable with themselves in public," said Tim Albee, a friend of 25 years. "He lived his life as, 'This is who I am, you accept or you don't, but I refuse to change.'"
"He taught everyone around him 'be who you are. be who you were intended to be, and don't be apologetic for anything.'"
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5163, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.