Big Freedia

Early life

Frederick Ross was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a child, Freedia took piano and sang in choir, and has said music was always a part of her life. Her mother exposed her to artists such as Patti LaBelle, and she was also influenced by the late disco singer Sylvester, Michael Jackson, and Salt-n-Pepa.

She attended Walter L. Cohen High School, where she continued to perform in choir and also became the choir director. This experience made her realize she could write and produce. According to Ross, she initially suffered from stage-fright, and had to coax herself onto stage until she became comfortable performing.

In 1998, a young drag queen by the name of Katey Red performed bounce music at a club near the Melpomene Projects where Ross grew up. Ross, who had grown up four blocks away from Katey Red, began performing as a backup dancer and singer in Red's shows. In 1999, Katey Red released Melpomene Block Party on the city's leading bounce label, Take Fo Records. She adopted her stage name after a friend dubbed her "Freedia" (pronounced "Freeda"). According to Ross, "I wanted a catchy name that rhymed, and my mother had a club called Diva that I worked for. I called myself the queen of diva – so I coined it: Big Freedia Queen Diva."

Early years

In 1999, Freedia released her first single, "An Ha, Oh Yeah," and began performing frequently in clubs and other venues in New Orleans. Other local hits included "Rock Around the Clock" and "Gin 'N My System," which was later quoted by Lil Wayne on a mix tape. She released her first studio album, Queen Diva, in 2003.

Freedia is often described as an artist within the "sissy bounce" subgenre, though she has stated "there's no such thing as separating it into straight bounce and sissy bounce. It's all bounce music." About her popularity with women at live shows, music journalist Alison Fensterstock wrote, "When Freedia or Sissy Nobby's singing superaggressive, sexual lyrics about bad boyfriends or whatever, there's something about being able to be the 'I’ in the sentence...it's tough to sing along about bitches and hoes when you're a girl. When you identify with Freedia, you're the agent of all this aggressive sexuality instead of its object."

Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, and Freedia, along with other bounce artists such as Katey Red and Freedia's protege Sissy Nobby, were forced to vacate the city. Freedia settled for several months in Texas, where she began performing bounce shows for the locals, helping spread awareness of the genre like other displaced bounce artists. She moved back to New Orleans at the first opportunity. According to Freedia, "The first club that reopened in New Orleans was Caesar's, and they called me immediately and said let's do a regular night with you here. So we started FEMA Fridays. It was the only club open in the city, and a lot of people had a lot of money from Katrina, the checks and stuff, so the joy inside that club – I don't think that'll ever come back."

She played six to ten shows a week at block parties, nightclubs, strip clubs, and other venues while the city recuperated. According to Fensterstock, "Freedia was one of the first artists to come back after the storm and start working, and he worked really, really hard. If you lived here, it became impossible not to know who he was."

Mainstream exposure

Freedia first began to gain national exposure after a 2009 fest-closing gig with Katey Red and Sissy Nobby at the Bingo Parlour Tent and the 2009 Voodoo Experience. On January 18, 2010, she self-released the album Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 on Big Freedia Records. The album was a collection of previously performed singles from 1999 to 2010.

In March 2010 she was booked for a showcase of New Orleans bounce music at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, but cancelled after an injury. She signed to the Windish Agency afterwards, and booked a summer tour. Along with Katey Red, Cheeky Blakk, and Sissy Nobby, she was a guest on the May 2010 album Ya-ka-may by funk band Galactic. She joined the band for several gigs, and the album peaked at #161 on the US Billboard Chart.

In May 2010, Freedia began touring with DJ Rusty Lazer and a team of "bootydancers," along with pop band Matt & Kim. She performed at Hoodstock in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn in May 2010, and afterwards was written up in the Village Voice. She performed for contemporary art mogul Jeffrey Deitch at Basel Miami and at New York's MoMa art museum. Upon returning to New Orleans, she was pursued by a New York journalist and was featured in The New York Times on July 22, 2010. She continued to tour throughout the United States, and in Fall 2010 had his first national television appearance on the Last Call with Carson Daly. In October 2010, the New Orleans Times-Picayune called her an "overnight sensation".

In 2011 Freedia was named Best Emerging Artist and Best Hip-Hop/Rap Artist in January's "Best of the Beat Awards." Big Freedia Hitz Vol. 1 was nominated by the 22nd GLAAD Media Awards in 2011. The album was re-released on Scion A/V in March 2011, along with a number of music videos. She also won an MTV 0 Award in 2012 for "Too Much Ass for TV."

She appeared on HBO's Treme, a drama following residents of New Orleans as they try to rebuild after Katrina. She performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on January 25, 2012. Her performance at SXSW in 2012 was reviewed by Rolling Stone as "Probably this writer's favorite SXSW set."

Freedia toured with The Postal Service in 2013, opening for the band at numerous venues throughout July and August.

In 2013, music television channel Fuse aired the first season of Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce, a reality show chronicling Freedia's growing mainstream attention and life back in New Orleans. During publicity for the show, Freedia led a crowd of hundreds in New York City to set the Guinness World Record for twerking. The second season of the show aired in 2014 and followed her mother Vera Ross's battle with cancer, which she lost on April 1, 2014, while Freedia was away doing a show. Freedia immediately flew back to New Orleans and planned a jazz funeral through the streets of the city, which the show aired.

On July 31, 2014, Freedia headlined "4th Year Anniversary of Bounce Event" at Republic.

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé released a surprise single, "Formation", and an accompanying music video, filmed in New Orleans, which sampled speech from Messy Mya and Big Freedia. Freedia is heard saying, "I did not come to play with you hoes, haha. I came to slay, bitch! I like cornbread and collard greens, bitch! Oh yas, you besta believe it," in the music video.

Beyoncé also uses Freedia's voice to open her 2016 "Formation" World Tour. Freedia says, "Oh Miss Bey, I know you came to slay! Give them hoes what they came to see. Baby, when I tell you, I’m back by popular demand. I did not come to play with you hoes. I came to slay, bitch! Oh yes, you best believe it, I always slay. You know I don't play!"

Personal life

She operates an interior design business whose clients included the administration of Ray Nagin when he was the mayor of New Orleans.

Freedia has stated "I am not transgendered; I am just a gay male... I wear women's hair and carry a purse, but I am a man. I answer to either 'he' or 'she'." However, she said in a 2013 interview with Out that her preferred pronoun is "she". In 2015, an interviewer asked Freedia about how "Everyone either knows (or quickly learns) to use the feminine pronoun when referring to you".

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

Collaborations