Antony and the Johnsons

U.K.-born, California-raised Antony Hegarty felt like the consummate outsider until coming face to face with the image of Boy George on the cover of the Culture Club's 1982 debut album, Kissing to Be Clever. Eight years later, Hegarty relocated to New York City and found a world more accepting of avant-garde sensibilities and a sexually ambiguous nature. An early incarnation was the cabaret ensemble Blacklips, modeled after Blue Velvet-era Isabella Rossellini and the drag queen who graced the cover of Soft Cell's 1982 single "Torch."