Pop artist, rapper and DJ QBoy has single handily become one of the leading faces emerging from a new wave in music. In such a short space of time, the half-Spanish, half-English artist has managed to reach audiences all over the globe and has hit the media with equal force. This year alone he supported Boy George at the prestigious London venue ‘KoKo’, completed a major USA 12 date run on ‘The HomoRevolution Tour’ and performed in Australia, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Iceland, and of course the UK, working with young teens for the Queer Up North festival in Manchester and putting on a master performance in Trafalgar Square for London Pride. Having been nominated for Performing Artist Of The Year at the first annual G&LA’s (Gay And Lesbian Awards), an award where the only other nominees in that category were Will Young and Stephen Gately he was recently asked this year to perform for their 2nd annual event at London’s Claridges.
The brave and determined artist has carved out a prominent place for himself in a culture known for it's apparent homophobia. From being editor of 'gayhiphop.com', dj and co-promoter of club 'Pac-Man' to being one of the founding members of the UK collective, ‘QFam’ he has pushed back stereotypes and stood his ground.
Born and raised in Basildon, Essex to an English mother and Spanish father, he grew up in a difficult area where he was bullied throughout most of his school years, turning to music for comfort and in particular hip-hop for expression. He left his hometown at 18 to study acting and contemporary dance for four years. It was after this, in 2001 that he met up with DJ Mistermaker, creator of ‘gayhiphop.com’ and recorded his first ever rap.
He has graced 10 magazine covers worldwide to date, featured in everything from i:D to The Guardian, including posing vacuus induviae for the cover of AXM in 2006. Also in this year his hit anti-bullying campaign track 'A Deal With God' led to him being invited to talk and perform for the UK Government Home Office and Permanent Secretary for their Diversity Conference. It also led to performances for many youth groups and schools to help combat homophobia in the classroom, working closely with charities Schools OUT and beatbullying, of which he is a patron. In the Spring he attended the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival European Premiere of 'Pick Up The Mic', a revolutionary homo-hop film he features in that 7received sold out audiences at film festivals around the globe. As well as attending the premiere, he was the key organiser of the aftershow party, which he performed at to great success.
The summer saw him flying off to begin his first USA tour when he performed in L.A., Philadelphia, Chicago and New York, where he also shot his new music video for ‘Q.B.O.Y. (Is Just So Fly)’ with Australian director Jarrah Gurrie and fashion photographer Nicolas Wagner about to be screened on MTV’s LOGO channel in the USA.
His excellent events management skills are put into play each year when he helps organise the annual European LGBT hip-hop festival; ‘Peace OUT UK’, a groundbreaking event he proudly presented for the first time in 2005. In between all this he has been recording his long awaited new album, ‘Moxie’, which was been preceded by the promotional street release ‘Remixes Don’t Count – the Mixtape’ containing bootleg cuts and club remixes of his material.
Lastly, his documentary ‘Coming Out To Class’ for Channel 4, which he presents focuses on 'out' gay teens and their experiences at school. Highlighting the little support LGBTQ teens are getting from schools at present and challenges the government into creating a safer environment for these teens. The programme first aired February 2007 to massive response from both the viewing public and from the Government, who voted to help gay teens in schools as a Parliamentary Early Day Motion after the film was screened. This also led to several other TV and radio spots, including the Channel 4 discussion panel ’40 Years Out’ and producing his first radio documentary for BBC 1Xtra on his idols Salt-N-Pepa, which aired January 2008.