Biography
Rev Roger Anthony YOLANDA Mapes on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/rogermapes?feature=mhee#p/a/f/0/eKjIADJheOA
Rev. Roger Anthony YOLANDA Mapes http://www.yolanda.net
is a singer/songwriter/drag performer and Interfaith Minister who's work as an Artist and Sacred Activist has earned him a place in The GLBT Hall Of Fame.
Rev. RoYo is an eccentric, and ecstatic performer with a southern rock, country gospel style. He brings his message of Non Duality into every event by merging GLBT and Mainstream Popular Culture with Integrated Spirituality. With a soulful voice, a message of oneness, great costumes, and a wicked sense of humor, his shows and CDs emphasize love, beautiful melodies, interesting stories, and a bit of inspiration.
Rev. Roger Anthony Yolanda Mapes was born and raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, The Hit Recording Capital of the World and the birthplaces of Helen Keller and W.C. Handy.
The Muscle Shoals area is populated by an abundance of musicians and visual artists/painters. RoYo began studying music, painting and drawing at a young age with local artists and was encouraged to develop his own unique vision, which combines GLBT culture, drag performance, personal spirituality, and a love for Old Time Gospel Music. RoYo is influenced by pop, rock, blues,gospel, country, and folk, but doesn’t self-consciously follow any one tradition…combining them all into some hybrid of his own.
The International GLBT Music Charts "OUTVOICE" www.outvoice.net announced its Top Ten Songs of 2010, with Roger Anthony YOLANDA Mapes' song "I Wanna Know" coming in at #3:
Listen to the awards show on Rainbow World Radio: http://www.rainbowworldradio.com
Roger won a Pride In the Arts Award for his song "FREEDOM". You can hear "FREEDOM" here: http://www.last.fm/music/Roger+Anthony+Mapes/House+of+Joy/Freedom+%28Brandon+Teena+version%29
Roger's song "I Wanna Know" made it to #1 on the national GLBT singles charts for 3 consecutive months. Currently the song and cd "House of Joy" are both #2 on the charts. visit" http://www.outvoice.net
You can hear "I Wanna Know" on Roger's featured tracks.
You can buy Roger's latest cd HOUSE OF JOY here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/RogerAnthonyYolandaMapes
Roger and the House of Joy band had a packed house for their cd release show in Times Square NYC at The Laurie Beechman Theater. For a slide show of the night go here:
http://www.slide.com/r/0CtgiOsJpT9R35FDbRyAZFurJpPNO85L?previous_view=lt_embedded_url
Roger's current work with Robert Urban (http://www.roberturban.com) guitarist and producer in NYC, has produced HOUSE OF JOY. The cd continues Roger's back to his Southern roots trend. Check out the swampy blues cover of "Ode To Billy Joe" by Bobby Gentry, plus originals: "Nice Girl" and "We Are Angels" (heavenly Urban version) all featured here. Check back periodically for more information and updates.
In 2008 Roger's collaboration with Alt-Country/Southern Rock/Gospel pedal steel/guitar/dobro player and producer Gerald Menke (www.myspace.com/geraldmenke) produced the cd Roger Mapes and Red Hook Junction featured here on Last FM.
The players were: Roger Anthony Mapes- vocals/songwriter/acoustic guitar, Gerald Menke- electric guitar/ dobro/ mandolin/ bass/ producer/ engineer, Dan Menke- drums, Genevieve Menke- backing vocals.
From 1996-2005 Roger Anthony Mapes performed solely as YOLANDA singer/songwriter/gender warrior with his/her band "Yolanda and the Plastic Family".
Listen to Yolanda and The Plastic Family here on Last.FM:
http://www.last.fm/music/Yolanda+and+the+Plastic+Family
Roger created the character "Yolanda", wrote the music, created the costumes, toured and recorded 2 discs with "The Plastic Family": "Welcome To YolandaWorld" (LP) and "Yolanda and the Plastic Family" (EP)
For more info on YOLANDA visit www.yolanda.net
For Roger's paintings and other info about Roger visit: www.rogeranthonymapes.com and www.myspace.com/rogermapesmusic
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
