Adore Delano
American drag performer and recording artist (born 1989) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Adore Delano[1] (formerly Dani Noriega; born September 29, 1989)[2] is an American drag queen, singer-songwriter, and television personality. She first appeared as a contestant on the seventh season of American Idol in 2008 before competing on RuPaul's Drag Race season 6 (2014) and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 2 (2016). She has recorded and released three studio albums: Till Death Do Us Party (2014), After Party (2016), Whatever (2017), and one EP Dirty Laundry (2021).
Adore Delano | |||||||
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_(cropped).jpg) Adore Delano at DragCon 2024 | |||||||
| Born | September 29, 1989 Glendora, California, U.S. | ||||||
| Other names | Dani Noriega | ||||||
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2007–present | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
| Personal information | |||||||
| Occupation(s) | Drag queen, singer-songwriter, television personality | ||||||
| Years active | 2009–2022 | ||||||
| Genre | Music | ||||||
| Subscribers | 519,000 | ||||||
| Views | 87 million | ||||||
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Last updated: 22 April 2025 | |||||||
| Website | adoredelano | ||||||
Early life
Delano was born in Glendora, California on September 29, 1989 to Bonnie Pimentel Noriega.[3][4] She was raised in Azusa, California, where she attended Sierra High School, a continuation school for at-risk teenagers.[5]
Career
Summarize
Perspective
2007–2009: American Idol and early work
When Delano was cast for American Idol, she had been living as a transgender woman. She detransitioned in order to become a contestant.[6] She competed on the seventh season of the show in 2007, and reached the semi-finals. The season was broadcast from January to May 2008. Delano gained a reputation among viewers for her flamboyant personality and sassy rapport with the judges. A comment she directed toward judge Simon Cowell went viral.
| Stage | Theme | Song choice | Original artist | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Singer's Choice | "Proud Mary" | Creedence Clearwater Revival | Advanced |
| Hollywood | Singer's Choice | "When I Need You" | Albert Hammond | Advanced |
| Top 24 | The 1960s | "Jailhouse Rock" | Elvis Presley | Safe |
| Top 20 | The 1970s | "Superstar" | Delaney & Bonnie | Safe |
| Top 16 | The 1980s | "Tainted Love" | Gloria Jones | Eliminated |
After watching Delano on Idol, Rosie O'Donnell invited her to perform on her R Family Vacations cruise.[7] Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres invited Delano to be a guest on her show.[8]
Following American Idol, Delano became a YouTube personality. On her channel, she performed skits in drag under the names Adore Delano and Angel Baby. In June 2009, she released the music video for the song "24/7," featuring sister Diamonique.[9]
2010–present: RuPaul's Drag Race and albums
After seeing RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Raven perform at the nightclub Micky's in West Hollywood, Delano was inspired to enter a drag competition at the club, which she won.[10] She began performing as Adore Delano in Southern California.[11] Along with other RuPaul's Drag Race contestants, she walked the Marco Marco runway for Los Angeles Fashion Week in 2013.[12] In December 2013, Logo TV announced her as one of 14 drag queens who would be competing on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.[13] She had previously competed for the season 5 fan-vote, ultimately losing to Penny Tration. Adore Delano eventually went on to win three challenges and made it to the final three. With Courtney Act, she finished as runner-up to season winner Bianca Del Rio.
Following the finale of Drag Race, Adore Delano released the single "DTF" on May 20, 2014, as the lead single from her debut album Till Death Do Us Party. The album was released on June 3, 2014, charting at number three on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart,[14] 11 on the US Independent Albums chart,[15] and number fifty-nine on the Billboard 200.[16] She released music videos for the majority of its tracks, including "I Adore U", which peaked at 49 on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs.[17] In November 2014, Adore Delano announced that a second album was in the works with an anticipated 2015 release date.[18]
Adore Delano's album After Party was set for release March 11, 2016.[19] "Dynamite", the first single, was released on February 26, 2016; "Take Me There", the second single, was released on March 10, 2016; and the "I.C.U.", was released on September 1, 2016.[20] Adore was one of 10 contestants on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.[21] She chose to leave the show in the second episode for personal reasons. Whatever, her third studio album, was released on August 18, 2017.[22]
On April 4, 2017, Delano filed a lawsuit against Producer Entertainment Group, her former management company, alleging that Delano had earned $2.5 million over the past three years, but only about $300,000 was actually paid.[23] P.E.G. counter-sued in January 2018, alleging Delano owed the company $180,000 in management fees. The suit was dismissed by a judge who awarded no money to either party.[24][25]
In 2019, Adore Delano appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season 11 of Drag Race.[26] In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her sixth on its list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.[27] In August, she was featured on the cover of Gay Times.[28] In December 2019, she joined the cast of the fourth season of Ex on the Beach.[29]
Personal life
Delano came out as bisexual at age 12, then as gay.[6] In a 2012 interview, she said she is not opposed to dating women.[30] From 2017 to 2023, Delano identified as non-binary and used any pronouns.[31] Delano said that "gender isn't a real thing … it's just something they came up with to categorize and control people".[32]
Delano came out as transgender in 2023. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she explained that after detransitioning in order to appear on American Idol, she attempted to mollify her feelings about her gender identity by living as a woman through Adore. In a coming-out video she posted to Instagram on July 26, 2023, she exclaimed that she "could not do it anymore", and revealed that she was transgender. She said that she had been taking estrogen for about three months, and that she had scheduled a gender-affirming surgery for the following November.[6]
On December 1, 2024, Delano announced that she was in a relationship with Sasha Allen, who was a contestant on season 21 of the reality television series The Voice.[33]
Discography
- Till Death Do Us Party (2014)
- After Party (2016)
- Whatever (2017)
Tours
 | This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (January 2020) |
Headlining
- Till Death Do Us Party Tour (2014–2015)
- After Party Tour (2016–2017)
- Birthday Tour (2017)
- Whatever Tour (2018)
- Time Hop Party Tour (2018)
- A Pizza Me Tour (2019)
- The Beautiful Idiots Tour (2020)
- Dirty Laundry Tour (2021)
- Party Your World Tour (2022–2023)[34]
Co-headlining act
- Battle of the Seasons 2015 Condragulations Tour (2015) (with RuPaul's Drag Race Cast)
- Battle of the Seasons 2016 Extravaganza Tour (2016) (with RuPaul's Drag Race Cast)
- ABCD Tour (2018) (with Bianca Del Rio, Courtney Act, and Darienne Lake)
- Heels of Hell Tour (2019)
- The Annual Halloween Sickening Ball Australia (2020)
Promotional
- After Party UK Promo Tour (2016)
- The Ghost of Ohio United Kingdom Tour – opening for Andy Black (2019)
Awards and nominations
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Adore Delano | Drag Queen of the Year | Won | [35] |
Filmography
Film
 |
| Year | Title | Director | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Dragged | Christopher Birk | Self | [36][non-primary source needed] | |
| 2015 | TupiniQueens | João Monteiro | Documentary about the drag queen scene in Brazil | [37] |
Television
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | American Idol | [38] | |
| The Ellen DeGeneres Show | [8] | ||
| 2014 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Season 6 – finalist | [38] |
| RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked | companion show to RuPaul's Drag Race | [38] | |
| 2015 | Chasing Life | ||
| 2016 | RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars | Season 2 – 9th place | |
| 2018 | Courtney Act's Christmas Extravaganza | Channel 4 Christmas Special | |
| 2019 | The View | Interviewed with Nina West and Monét X Change | [39] |
| Ex on the Beach | Season 4: Peak of Love – contestant | ||
| 2020 | KTLA 5 News | Interviewed with LaDemi |
Web series
|
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Let the Music Play | [40] | |
| 2015 | Hey Qween! | Episode: "Adore Delano" | [41] |
| 2018 | Portrait of a Queen | Episode: "Love & Adore" | [42] |
| Bestie$ for Ca$h | Episode: "Adore Delano and Chris Crocker" | [43] | |
| 2018–23 | The Pit Stop | Guest; 4 episodes | [44][45][46][47] |
| 2019 | The View: Facebook Live | Episode: "Pride Month 2019" | |
| 2020 | Love for the Arts | Guest judge | [48] |
| 2023 | Sissy That Talk Show with Joseph Shepherd | Podcast; Guest | [49] |
Music videos
| Title | Year | Artist | Director | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Oh No She Better Don't" | 2014 | RuPaul | Steven Corfe | [50] |
| "Sissy That Walk" | Steven Corfe | [51] | ||
| "Mean Gays" | Courtney Act | Kain O'Keeffe | [52] | |
| "Hieeee" | 2015 | Alaska | Ben Simkins | [53] |
| "The T" | 2016 | [54] | ||
| "You Need to Calm Down" | 2019 | Taylor Swift | Drew Kirsch | [55] |
References
External links
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