Justin Vivian Bond

Justin Vivian Bond (born May 9, 1963), formerly simply Justin Bond, is an American singer-songwriter, performance artist, occasional actor and Radical Faerie. Described as a "fixture of the New York avant-garde", Bond arose to notability playing the role of Kiki DuRayne in the drag cabaret act Kiki and Herb from the early 1990s through to 2004. Born physically male, Bond is transgender and eschews gender-specific honorifics and pronouns, preferring, respectively, "Mx." (in place of "Mr." or "Ms.") and "V" ("vself" instead of "himself" or "herself").

Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, Bond went on to study theater at Adelphi University before moving to San Francisco after graduating in 1985. It was here that Bond met Kenny Mellman, and they began a cabaret act together, which would eventually lead to them creating the characters of Kiki and Herb. Bond designed Kiki to be an elderly alcoholic woman who would perform covers of pre-existing songs in her own distinct style. Bond decided to bring an end to the Kiki character in 2004, subsequently embarking on a solo career, and starring in John Cameron Mitchell's film Shortbus (2006) as vself before releasing Bond's first EP, Pink Slip (2009), and then an album, Dendrophile (2011). That same year also saw the publication of a memoir, entitled Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels.

Bond self describes Bond's voice as being "kind of woody and full with a lot of vibration". For Bond's musical work, Bond has received numerous accolades including the Obie Award (2001), Bessie Award (2004), and Ethyl Eichelberger Award (2007). Bond was also nominated for a Tony Award in 2007.