Jake Shears

Jake Shears

Jake Shears is a singer and songwriter from Mesa, United States. Born Jason Sellards in 1978, he is best known as the vocalist in Scissor Sisters and is also associated with Lovequest. His music is filed across alternative dance, alternative rock, club, dance, dance-rock and glam rock, and he is linked with Boys Keep Swinging Inc.

Early life and education

Sellards grows up in Arizona and attends Occidental College in Los Angeles. At 19, he travels to Lexington, Kentucky to visit a classmate, who introduces him to Scott Hoffman, known as Babydaddy. The two immediately get on, and a year later they both move to New York. In New York, Sellards studies fiction writing at Eugene Lang College and writes for the gay magazine HX.

New York scene and Scissor Sisters

Before Scissor Sisters, Sellards becomes a regular figure in the New York gay and electroclash scene. He also works as a stripper in alternative gay bars, including IC-Guyz. In 2002, he and Hoffman form Scissor Sisters as a performance-art experiment, and they play early shows in clubs such as Luxx in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where Sellards lives.

After several years of difficulty in New York, Scissor Sisters work with the label A Touch of Class, which produces the tracks “Comfortably Numb” and “Filthy/Gorgeous”. The group then finds major success in the UK and Ireland, ending 2004 with the best-selling album of the year in the UK.

Performance and collaborations

Shears is known for provocative stage dancing and for sometimes performing near-nude, reflecting his earlier work as a stripper. He and Scissor Sisters become especially popular in the GLBT community. Shears, Babydaddy and Del Marquis are openly gay.

He also works with other artists. He performs with Andy Bell of Erasure on “Thought It Was You”, from Bell’s 2005 album Electric Blue. He collaborates with Tiga, and he co-writes Kylie Minogue’s hit single “I Believe In You” with Babydaddy.