Jayne County: the first openly transgender rock musician (2024)

The popular image of punk is one of hyper-masculinity, with shirtless singers like Iggy Pop and Henry Rollin using music as an outlet for their adolescent male rage. The foundations of the genre, however, were constructed by women like Patti Smith, Siouxsie Sioux and, perhaps most interestingly, Jayne County. With a style moving disparately from proto-punk to glam and blues rock, County encapsulates the stunning image and kitsch campiness that best encapsulates the punk rock revolution.

Born in Georgia, County found a natural home among the outcasts and artists of New York’s seedy 1970s underground. The world was first exposed to her sneering tones through the stage, appearing in a variety of plays during the early 1970s, including Andy Warhol’s Pork. Forming the proto-punk act Queen Elizabeth, County soon proved to be a significant influence on a little-known songwriter from Brixton, going by the name of David Bowie. Following on from providing inspiration to Bowie tracks like ‘Rebel Rebel‘, County became a mainstay of the legendary punk venue Max’s Kansas City. However, she was never content to stay in one place for too long.

After moving to London in 1977, in search of the punk rock boom that had produced such trailblazing acts as The Slits, X-Ray Spex and The Clash, County formed Wayne County and the Electric Chairs. With the group, County established her endearingly kitsch and endlessly provocative songwriting, particularly evident on tracks like the affectionately named ‘f*ck Off’ or ‘f*cked by the Devil’. It was during this period in London that County met director Derek Jarman, who cast her in his groundbreaking feature Jubilee.

In the years that followed, County again relocated, this time to Berlin. The German capital city has provided an artistic breeding ground for a variety of artists over the years, from David Bowie to the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and County was no exception. During her Berlin years, the songwriter created her greatest work, involving her starring role in the fever-dream musical City of Lost Souls, in addition to grappling with her gender identity.

Jayne had been born Wayne Rogers but never felt particularly comfortable with her gender or the expectations of masculinity. The term ‘transgender’ was virtually unheard of during the 1970s, but of course, County was never one to bow down to expectations of normality. After transitioning to become Jayne County, the songwriter established herself as the first openly, unapologetically and, often, confrontationally transgender musician in all of rock music, years before the term ‘queercore’ was ever coined. County’s gender identity and transition provided a recurring theme for her musical output.

The track ‘Man Enough to Be a Woman’, for instance, is County’s definitive anthem, dealing with her struggles with gender and refusal to conform to societal norms. The lyric “I am what I am, I don’t give a damn” is a rallying cry for the LGBTQ+ community that remains as relevant today as it was when County first wrote it. Throughout her career, County has fought for the rights and equality of the LGBTQ+ community, particularly the liberation of the trans community, which continues to witness horrific institutionalised and societal oppression to this day.

Jayne County never reached the dizzying heights of the charts in any of the various groups she was part of over the years, but then that should come as no real shock. After all, the musical mainstream was, at best, sceptical of punk rock. They were certainly never going to allow an openly transgender punk rocker, with song titles regularly involving expletives and not-so-subtle sexual innuendo, ever grace the stage of Top of the Pops.

As the punk rock revolution of the 1970s gradually died out, Jayne returned to New York, continuing to write and record subversive and daring music, in addition to appearing on stage and in film. Whereas most musicians who found a home in the punk scene quickly threw in the towel, County’s career seemed only to grow. The songwriter remains active to this day, continuously providing a voice for the oppressed and overlooked. Although still witnessing a heartbreaking level of discrimination, transgender musicians are much more common in the present day, and they certainly owe a debt to the trailblazing influence of Jayne County.

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