JON Hughes seems to have been born to sing and act, right from studying drama and theatre in his native Yorkshire and swapping Shakespearean roles at each performance with a fellow child actor. “I wanted to be on stage even then,” he admits.
Progressing to farces and plays with the local amateur dramatic society, he had already co-written and performed in panto as Dame Tickety Boo in Cinderella. Spurred on by winning an acting award (a book token!) he auditioned for the National Youth Theatre but didn’t get in. He confesses that the expense of it all might have prevented him anyway. “So I had to put my dreams on hold.”
Realising he needed a ‘proper job’ he went to work at the Co-op, finding out he was good with customers – a rapport which has stayed with him today with audiences as Sally Vate.
Some 18 years ago he moved with his then partner to Bournemouth. “It was the first time I was really on the gay scene. A friend suggested we drag up for the weekend and I did. I’m sure I looked quite shocking to start with – it was just for fun and a few drinks.”
The stage name came from mishearing the pseudonym of one of Robbie Williams’ backing singers, but it stuck. A drag appearance at Rubies followed plus being on the door at Bournemouth’s Triangle club, DJing and hosting karaoke. But he was doing what he calls ‘drag and drop’ DJ work using a laptop – and not singing at all.
His first and remaining influence, Miss Jason, told him he would be good at drag. Jason told me I was good at situations that were funny, not just jokes. “I had eight tracks which I learned and I still do four of them.”
Moving to Brighton he got work as a cover act at the old Oriental, doing bingo and quizzes. “I fell in love with Brighton,” he says and residences developed at both Zone Bar and the Queen’s Arms. “I pride myself on making each show different. It’s not scripted. It has to be fresh for me as well as for the audience. Miss Jason told me I was the undiscovered jewel of Brighton. He gave me confidence and has always supported me.”
Now established as a star in both family and more adult pantos, he also has turned back to drama, playing a wonderful bitchy Southern belle in the musical Expenses Only. “I never trained as a singer so in that show there were what I call ‘Sally notes’ that I’d made up, hoping for the best and just getting on with it. Expenses Only took me away from the Sally character, as does panto, giving me the chance to develop a different character within a script. My Northern accent is useful for comedy, but I’d love to play a serious character too. I turn 40 in April in the middle of Brighton’s adult panto,” he confesses.
What advice would you give to the young and aspiring Jon?
“Don’t care too much about what other people think. I knew I was always camp and comical, and it’s okay being a joker if you’re in charge. But at the back of my mind I was always aware that I might be getting too flamboyant and maybe I should closet myself a bit.”
On the subject of gay politics, he says; “People give themselves labels. But if you’re a decent human being, I don’t care what you call yourself.”
Jon reflects that Sally is now the longest job he has ever had. “I fell into drag by accident, but just as I was at the Co-op, I’m still selling the goods.”
That’s for certain!