Pabllo Vittar

Born in São Luís, Phabullo is a dizygotic twin and has an older sister. Phabullo spent part of his childhood and adolescence living in the cities of Santa Ines and Caxias, both in the interior of Maranhão, due to financial difficulties. He never knew his father, who abandoned his mother, a nurse, when she was pregnant with him.[8]

During his childhood, Phabullo experienced bullying because of his delicate gestures and feminine voice. He was physically assaulted with a plate of hot soup thrown over his face.[9][10] He attended ballet classes during this period.[11]

At the age of 13, Phabullo began doing covers at family parties and school performances and joined a choir at a Catholic church.[12][13] Soon after, he began songwriting. Later, he decided to become a professional, moving to São Paulo with his sister, where he worked in several places, such as snack bars and beauty salons. Soon after, he moved to Uberlândia with his mother, who had recently married. At the age of 15, he came out to his mother, who had suspected that he was gay; his sister already knew about his sexual orientation.[14] His mother, whom he talks to daily, is supportive of his sexual orientation.[15]

He then began to go out for the night in Maranhão, to make friends, and to participate as one of a selection of singers in a house of shows. He started performing his own songs and impersonating celebrities for a small fee, but it was not a professional job. He was now dressing feminine, but did not identify himself as a drag queen; the first time that he did drag was at age 17 in Uberlândia, to publicize a party of his friend by delivering pamphlets at the door of a nightclub.[8][16] With time, he started performing in LGBT parades in diverse cities of Maranhão and became known by the state's LGBT community. At age 18, in Minas Gerais, Phabullo started participating in and winning some beauty contests in full drag, before beginning his professional career as a singer while adopting the stage name of "Pabllo Knowles", an homage to singer Beyoncé.[12] His first performance as a drag queen occurred at the Belgrano nightclub, of producers Ian Hayashi and Leocádio Rezende (whom Phabullo would later call his "parents").[13][17]

Still in Minas Gerais, Phabullo took a university entrance exam by the Federal University of Uberlândia, where he was admitted to the full design course in 2013, but after some periods he dropped out of college due to his schedule of shows, which increased greatly due to the success of his music videos on the internet and his participation in the band of primetime television program Amor & Sexo.[18]

When he attracted attention from entrepreneurs in the entertainment field,[14] Phabullo began his musical career professionally, performing in bars and concert halls in Uberlândia and cities of the region. In this period, Phabullo adopted the stage name of Pabllo Vittar.[19]

Vittar's music is considered as "unofficial anthems for Brazil's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community"[26] and he is widely viewed as a voice for them. Because dangers to LGBT+ people have grown in Brazil,[35] Vittar's openness about being gay has made him an icon to those living in a prejudiced environment. As an openly gay Brazilian drag queen, Vittar has served as a positive representation of homosexuality and gender fluidity. He used his visibility to support LGBT+ individuals in Brazil and in other countries in South America. He said: "They tell me a lot about their daily struggle to go out on the street being gay, being drag. I want to give them strength so they can continue being who they are."[15] Vittar also appeared on A Força do Querer ("Edge of Desire"), a popular soap opera about a transgender man.[26] After seeing Vittar perform at the Rock in Rio festival, actor Fabio Assunção wrote in a Facebook post: "You represent the possibility of truth in a sea of hypocrisy. Your public figure is the voice of many suffocated people."[15]

In an interview for Veja magazine, Vittar revealed that he chose a masculine stage name because he wanted to be truthful to the public, since he is not transgender. He only acts as a woman when he's on stage as Pabllo Vittar and has a more typical masculine gender expression in his private life.[36] During the same interview, Vittar said he is "making music for humans."[34] Since his debut, Vittar became the most followed and most streamed drag queen in the world, surpassing RuPaul.[20] In 2020, Vittar was featured in a campaign for Calvin Klein, as part of the designer's pride collection.[37]

• Vai Passar Mal (2017)
• Não Para Não (2018)
• 111 (2020)

• Open Bar Tour (2015–2016)
• Vai Passar Mal Tour (2017–2018)
• Não Para Não Tour (2018–2019)
• 111 Tour (2021)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pabllo Vittar.

• Pabllo Vittar on Facebook
• Pabllo Vittar at IMDb
• Pabllo Vittar on Dicionário Cravo Albin da Música Popular Brasileira (in Portuguese)