Veteran Nigerian entertainer Charly Boy has opened up about how living with gay and transgender people influenced his personal style and artistic expression.
Speaking during his latest guest appearance on the With Chude podcast, hosted by Chude Jideonwo, the singer reflected on his early looks and the speculations surrounding his expression.
“Why was your first look effeminate, for lack of a better word? What was behind that choice?” Jideonwo asked.
Charly Boy opened up about his fashion choices from the 80s and 90s, noting that his feminine outlook became the subject of discussion back then, leading to speculations about his sexuality.
He said, “I used to have a girly girl look back in the day, I used to wear a lot of rouge, makeup, lipstick and whatever, and that’s where the gay speculations started. People thought that I was that-way inclined until my friend Tina looked at me and was like , ‘nah, you need something more macho, more masculine.'”
Charly Boy revealed that during his last years in America, most of his friends were transvestites: people who dressed in clothes primarily associated with the other sex.
“I wasn’t one but I just loved them; I loved how they switched so I used to study them,” he clarified.
“If you remember that on the Charly Boy Show I had this character called Linda, my alter ego. That was easy for me to do because I had been around bi, gay and transgender people, so I picked all the nuances from that,” he explained.
The singer asserted that even though being around his fluid friends greatly influenced his personality, he had always seen himself as a trendsetter.
I love being myself, I love to stand out, I don’t want to follow trends; I prefer to start my own trends; and do my own thing. That’s how I felt right from the day I was born, wanting to go through another way,” he concluded.
