Rita Baga

Rita Baga is the stage name of Jean-François Guèvremont (born 1987), a Canadian drag queen from Montreal, Quebec,[1] who is most noted as a Top 3 finalist in the first season of Canada's Drag Race.[2]

Rita Baga
Born
Jean-François Guèvremont

1987 (age 33–34)
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversité du Québec à Montréal
OccupationDrag queen, singer, event programmer
Years active2007–present
Known forCanada's Drag Race

In addition to performing as Rita Baga, Guèvremont works as director of programming for Fierté Montréal.[3]

Education

Guèvremont is an alumnus of the Université du Québec à Montréal, where he studied human resources and tourist development.[4]

Career

Guèvremont began his drag career in 2007, performing at Cabaret Mado for the birthday show of his friend Dream, performing a medley from the film Sister Act with colleagues Marla and Célinda. Initially his drag name was Rita d'Marde ("Rita Shit"),[1] which he changed to Rita Baga in 2010 when he began performing at Cabaret Mado as a regular.[1] In 2013, Rita Baga appeared on La Guerre des clans, V's French-language version of Family Feud.[4]

In 2014, Rita Baga became the permanent host of Bagalicious, the Sunday night program at Cabaret Mado.[5] In 2016 she launched MX Fierté, a cross-Canada drag pageant held in conjunction with Fierté Montréal;[6] in the same year, she travelled to Mumbai, India to perform at the KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival.[7]

In 2017 Guèvremont participated in Ils de jour, elles de nuit, an Ici ARTV documentary series about drag queens, alongside Barbada de Barbades, Gaby, Lady Boom Boom, Lady Pounana and Tracy Trash.[8]

Canada's Drag Race filmed in late 2019, and the cast was revealed to the public in 2020 several weeks before the show's premiere on July 2. Rita Baga was one of two queens from Montreal, alongside Kiara, to appear in the season.[9] In August 2020, with Fierté Montréal suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Guèvremont in his role as director of programming helped to coordinate a special online edition of the annual Drag Superstars show, which featured all of the queens from Canada's Drag Race in prerecorded video performances.[3] While most other queens performed lipsyncs to established pop songs, Guèvremont used his segment to premiere the music video for Rita Baga's own original single "Something Spiritual".[4] Rita Baga made it to the Top 3 in Canada's Drag Race, with Scarlett Bobo and Priyanka, and won the most weekly challenges over the course of the season, but ultimately lost the crown to Priyanka.[2]

Following the conclusion of the Canada's Drag Race season, the cast announced a cross-Canada tour, to be performed at drive-in venues due to the ongoing social distancing restrictions remaining in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] The tour was hosted by Brooke Lynn Hytes; as the Top 3 finalists, Priyanka, Scarlett Bobo and Rita Baga appeared at every date on the tour, while other cast members performed at selected dates based on availability.[11]

Alongside Priyanka, Scarlett BoBo and Jimbo, Rita Baga participated in an online panel as part of the 2020 Just for Laughs festival.[12]

In December 2020, it was announced that Rita Baga will be part of the cast of the first season of the Quebec version of Big Brother Célébrités.[13]

References
  1. Hugo Dumas, "La future reine québécoise du Nord?". La Presse, August 19, 2020.
  2. Rebecca Alter, "Canada’s Drag Race Season Finale Recap: What’s Her Name?". Vulture.com, September 21, 2020.
  3. André-Constantin Passiour, "Une édition canadienne toute spéciale de Drag Superstars". Fugues, August 9, 2020.
  4. Louis Angot, "8 choses à savoir sur Rita Baga, la candidate montréalaise à « Canada's Drag Race »". Narcity, July 6, 2020.
  5. André-Constantin Passiour, "Rita Baga rend hommage à Adele". Fugues, September 19, 2016.
  6. André-Constantin Passiour, "C’est reparti pour une 2e édition du concours MX Fierté". Fugues, February 1, 2018.
  7. "‘We must all be treated equally; that is the future’". The Hindu, May 27, 2016.
  8. Emmanuelle Plante, "L’envers du décor de la culture drag". Le Journal de Montréal, April 1, 2017.
  9. Samuel Larochelle, "Les drag queens montent au front". La Presse, June 28, 2020.
  10. Peter Knegt, "All hail our queen: A conversation with Canada's Drag Race winner Priyanka". CBC Arts, September 10, 2020.
  11. Tyler Jadah, "Canada's Drag Race is coming to Montreal's drive-in venue this month". Daily Hive, September 10, 2020.
  12. Jenelle Riley, "For Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the Show Will Go On(line)". Variety, October 2, 2020.
  13. Élizabeth Lepage-Boily, "La drag queen Rita Baga se joint à l'aventure Big Brothers Célébrités". Showbizz.net, December 11, 2020.
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