Early years
Born on 3 March 1954 in Geelong, Cherie was destined for the stage. She began her showbusiness career as a showgirl at Pinky’s nightclub in St Kilda while still a teenager. Throughout her life, she would be better known by her stage name, Cherie L’Amour.
Career
After getting her start at Pinky’s, Cherie was soon a regular at other well-known nightclubs in St Kilda. This included the legendary Pokeys drag show at the Prince of Wales Hotel. In the mid 1970s, Cherie also worked in Art Luden’s strip club, ‘This Is The Show’ (or ‘TITS’) at the Ritz Hotel.
St Kilda was Melbourne’s night club hub, but the real centre of the action in Australia was Kings Cross, Sydney. In 1973, Cherie moved to Sydney to work at the popular Les Girls cabaret. She also worked at the infamous Pink Panther. Her signature song was Eartha Kitt’s ‘Just an Old Fashioned Girl’.
Led by pioneering acts like the Les Girls queer cabaret troupe, the Sydney drag scene in the 1960s and 70s was among the most vital and popular of its kind in the world. Mainstream enjoyment of these performances played an important role in growing acceptance of queer, gay, trans and gender-nonconforming communities in Australia.
Cherie regularly worked with her friends and fellow showgirls Cherry Ripe, Monica St Clair, Sasha Morrell, Coralee D’Winter and Debra Le Gae.
Together with Cherry Ripe and Pepper Hudson, she also toured a successful ‘Queen of the Desert’ drag show through the outback from Perth to Darwin in the 1990s.
Death
Cherie’s health deteriorated from around 2005. In 2010, she died at home with her long-term partner Stephen by her side. In December 2010, the Star Observer honoured the passing of a trailblazing icon: “Melbourne lost another of its leading transgender entertainers last month, Cherie L’Amour.”
She rests at Altona Memorial Park.
Bibliography
Adapted from material supplied by historian Dr Jan Penney, GMCT Trust member 2010-2020.
Mayberry, A. (2010) Farewell to an old fashioned girl, Star Observer, Sydney
Longmire, A (1989) The show Goes On: the history of St Kilda 1930-1983 (online)
Image source
Image taken from Broadsheet.