Riley Knoxx: Beyoncé, Broken Backs and NBA Basketball
The first thing I notice when Riley Knoxx appears on my screen is the silver astronaut trophy, an MTV Video Music Award (VMA), she won for appearing in Taylor Swift’s 2019 music video, “You Need to Calm Down.” It’s a gentle reminder of the breadth of Knoxx’s accomplishments and the fullness of her 18 year career as a Beyoncé impersonator, a career that includes becoming the first transgender woman to perform at an NBA halftime show; breaking her back three years ago; developing her own concert; and starting her own fashion company, Riley Knoxx Couture.
Another thing I notice throughout my conversation with Riley Knoxx is her focus on the future and the way her emphasis on self-growth pairs with her work ethic. The first time I saw Knoxx perform live, I was a teenager. Since then, I have graduated from college, and Knoxx has graduated from performing mainly in ensemble shows in clubs and bars to touring her own spectacular solo show. “It was about elevation and growth,” she responds when I ask her about making that transition from nightclubs to stadiums. “I have a motto: I don’t work this hard to stay the same.” Then, she adds, “Also, I like being able to go to bed early now.”
And it’s the sincere and fastidious nature with which Knoxx breaks down each aspect of her creative process, the genuine emotion that cracks through her voice when she talks about making strides for the transgender community, the assuredness with which she describes herself, that tells me that Knoxx expects herself to give every bit as much of her time and energy and care–if not more–to her own performances as Beyoncé does to hers. And, from spending hours learning every minute aspect of Beyoncé’s routines (“I had to train myself in the very beginning to hold the microphone in the right hand; Beyoncé always holds her microphone in the right hand.”), to gluing 27,000 Swarovski crystals, one by one, to the gown she created for Monique Samuels to wear at the most recent Real Housewives of Potomac reunion, she demonstrates her dedication to her craft and unwillingness to compromise on her work. Whether facing a broken back or a pandemic, Riley Knoxx remains resilient.
You just came from filming a television show for Amazon Prime. What is it about?
It’s about three characters, and they kinda meet up and become friends in New York. One is LGBTQ, and the other one is kind of new and apprehensive and not really sure, and he happens to meet a transgender woman. And you know…They hit it off, and I play that transgender woman. It’s really cool.
Is this your first time working in such a big role on a television set?
No! I actually did a movie last year called Chaaw, it hasn’t come out yet because obviously the pandemic and all that stuff’s been happening, but Tracey Braxton, Toni Braxton’s sister, plays my mom. I play one of the lead roles; I play a supermodel–a transgender supermodel–who is a victim of domestic violence, but she ends up going to prison for quite some time. And we filmed in a real prison in Philly. It was very intense; it was very scary but also emotional to film. Both characters are a lot like me, but also not like me. I had a lot to draw from being that I am a transgender woman, and I am in the public eye, so that helped with the role.
And then the dating role, with dating guys who are cisgender, heterosexual men and attracted to me, I identify. It’s funny, when they offered me the role, they were like, “So do you think this is something you could handle and that you’d like to do?” And I was like, “Are you kidding me? This is my life! This is me! Absolutely I can do it.”
You’ve been performing Beyoncé for 18 years. How have you, Beyoncé, and the world around you changed in that time?
The wonderful thing about Beyoncé as an artist is that she is constantly evolving and changing and growing because in order to grow, you have to change. Because I impersonate her, I’ve been forced to progress with her. Whenever she comes out with something new, I think to myself, “Uh, damn, I gotta do that too; I gotta learn that.”
It’s not easy because she is someone who is constantly setting the bar higher just for herself. I welcome the challenge because, like I said, I don’t work so hard to stay the same, but it gets exhausting. She’ll do something and people will say to me, “So… are you going to do this? Riley, look what she’s doing! We can’t wait to see you recreate this.” That can be a lot of pressure. But I’ve learned to just not put so much pressure on it.
Is there something you started doing in your impersonation that you feel took your performance over the edge and made it what it is today?
I am very meticulous about detail. If I’m recreating something that she’s done, I will watch the performance over and over again and watch every single detail. I’ll watch just her, and then I’ll watch the dancers; I’ll watch her reaction to the dancers, the way that every single thing comes together. And then the costumes. Thank god for Google because I will find every picture from every angle of every performance, and I will screenshot and blow up every detail to get the costuming right because I’ve made my own costumes for those 21 years. It’s that detail that a lot of people who are die hard fans will remember. I try to stay true to that and sometimes add my own flair on it.
In the beginning, I studied her really really hard: mannerisms, everything, the way she walks, the way she moves, her eye movement, just everything. And now, after all these years, it is something that as soon as I hit the stage–as soon as the lights come on, the music starts, the curtains rise, and the audience screams–I instantly transform into her. And as soon as I come off the stage, it completely goes away. But I don’t have to think about it anymore. It just happens; it just turns on. I’ve had friends and family, especially my mom, who’ve come to my show and not recognized their daughter or their friend on stage. They’re like, “You were Beyoncé.” It’s so funny because when I took on these roles [in film and television] people were asking me “are you going to get an acting coach?” And I said, “I’ve been acting my whole life! I’ve been pretending to be someone else my whole career!” But I really just [she snaps her fingers at the screen] transform right into her, and it’s the strangest thing; I come off the stage, and it goes away.
You talk about this distinction between Riley and Riley-as-Beyoncé, can you touch on your transition and this process of discovering yourself through playing someone else?
I was extremely shy when I was younger. Becoming an entertainer completely pushed me out of the shyness. I learned to take a little bit of that confidence that I have on stage into everyday life. And you even hear Beyoncé talk about how she had to have Sasha Fierce at first, and then she ended up killing Sasha Fierce, simply because she was able to take that [confidence that Sasha Fierce gave her] into her everyday life. Honestly, I had to take a little bit of Beyoncé into everyday life.
Being in the public eye will grow you up really fast. Having people critique you and having people judge you and having people follow you and look up to you, you realize you have a little respons–you have a big responsibility actually, not just a little responsibility, especially with me being trans. That gave me the confidence to transition, and it also gave me the confidence to stand on my own as a trans woman. I don’t know that I would have been able to do that so easily or so fast, had it not been for me being an entertainer first.
I want to circle back to your creative process. Can you tell me about your work as a designer?
It started out as necessity. Trust me, when I first started out, I was not as good as I am today. I made a lotta ugly shit to be honest. But then, what started off as necessity turned into…just normal for me. When I got to a status where people wanted to make things for me, I was like “absolutely not.” I enjoy making my own things and I’m used to it, and I know my body like nobody else. Also, the detail, that’s part of it. Performing is a big part of it, but replicating the costume of Beyonce was a big thing. Like I told you, I’d have every angle and would blow up the picture to see every detail. Case in point, the costume I wore in Taylor Swift’s music video for You Need to Calm Down. That costume is an exact replica of a costume Beyoncé wore on the On the Run II tour. I realized, and I don’t think anybody even knew this, that Beyonce had like two or three of that same costume because they were not identical. And so, in blowing up [the photos], I realized that this is not the same costume at all!
Do you have a favorite piece that you’ve made?
Probably that costume that I wore for Taylor’s video because I started making it before I broke my back. And then I broke my back…
Okay I need to hear more about that. Tell me about breaking your back.
So, I slipped and fell two hours before a show and cracked my back in two places. I was in the hospital for six days. I told the doctor, “You don’t understand I have shows to do.” He was just like, “No, I’ve seen what you do, and you’re gonna be out.”
So, when I realized that I was actually going to be able to go back on stage after being in a back brace for a whole month, I was like “I gotta finish this costume…This is gonna be my comeback costume.” It was so intricate, and it was such an intricate piece, but it was so heavy. It’s made of pearls and beads and stones; it’s so heavy. Even Taylor said, “You made this?” And I said, “Yeah, I made this!”
Okay shifting gears a little, I wanted to ask you about the Wizards game and your boundary breaking halftime performance. I grew up in the area, and not only have I been following your career since I was in high school, but I’m also a Wizards fan! To me, that event felt like these two different parts of D.C. that I treasure coming together, and for such an important milestone: you being the first trans woman to perform at an NBA halftime show. It was really special.
It was one of the biggest moments of my entire career, but it would have been a big moment for me even if it wasn’t me. And the fact that I got to do it was huge for me. I got emotional right after because the fact that that barrier was being broken, and the way that they approached me, was very matter of fact. When I was asked to do it, I was just like, “Sure!” And then when I realized, “Oh, you’re the first to do it.” I’m like, “Oh this is huge. I’m the first trans woman to ever do this.”
First of all, we know that American sports sometimes tends to be a very homophobic or macho kind of space. And just for me to live in Washington, D.C., and for the Wizards to be the home team and me to do that was… I’m reminded of it every day. I don’t know if you can see this, but [she angles her camera so a basketball comes into view] the basketball’s right here. Right by the VMA, and so every day I walk past it, and I’m reminded of the fact that I did that.
But like I said, I would have been elated if it were anybody doing it. I would have been at that game watching that history being made because it was such an amazing moment. Even the air–like the aura–in that room was so supportive and so amazing. Everybody with the organization was amazing. And backstage, we had so much fun. My sisters were there to witness it, and so many of my trans brothers and sisters came to the game to see me do the show. Then we partied on the court afterwards, and it was just so amazing.
I love that aside from being a Beyoncé impersonator and aside from being in a Taylor Swift video or winning a VMA…I love that now, my legacy, my claim to fame, is that I’ve made history as the first transgender woman ever to perform in the NBA [halftime show]. No matter what I do, that’s going to be a big thing for me, to break that barrier. And there’s been so many firsts: I’ve had other friends of mine, like Laverne Cox and Isis King, to be the first to do things, and I love when we have these wins. I’m always cheering for my community and I’m always excited about that when I find out that somebody’s about to break that barrier because it keeps happening. I love the fact that it keeps happening, but I cannot wait until it’s happened so often that it’s just no longer even a thing. That’s the goal.
Tell me about your concert, “The Illusion of Queen Bey,” and any future plans you might have now that we’re starting to come out of the pandemic.
I love it. I love putting a show together. It is very stressful; it makes my hair go gray. But, I love it because I love the end result. I love when people come to my concerts and say, “I don’t even need to go to a Beyoncé concert now,” or, “I’ve been to a Beyoncé concert, and the fact that I can hold the two up together is insane.” Or people who are blown away by the fact that I broke my back and almost ended my career, and I’m still able to get up on that stage and do all of that. That I love.
My job is to help people escape their problems. That’s what entertainers do. We are blessed to be able to do that, to be the relief when everybody else feels like the world is going to shit. They’re not thinking about their problems, their bills; they’re not thinking about all the craziness that’s going on in their life; for that hour and 45 minutes, they are just locked in, and they’re having a great time. They’re drinking, and they’re singing along. It’s amazing, and I love that.
Right now, we’re in the early stages of talking about how we’re going to get back on stage. I actually have not been on stage in over a year. I haven’t picked up the microphone and danced or put on those Capezio tights and been on stage in a very long time. But I’m itching to do it, and I’m so excited to have so many ideas.
I would love to be doing another concert within the next two months. I would love for that to be somewhere around late summer, to be back on stage and tour and do all of that because I have so much to give before I retire from performing.
Whenever I do retire, I will always be somewhere doing something, working towards something great. I’m never gonna just sit down. Pretty soon people will be able to go on TV and watch me, so I’m happy about that. And now people can wear me, so there’s always something. I will know when the time is right to hang up the leotard, but I’m not gonna do it yet. And Ms. Corona is not going to stop me.
Recommend If You Like is not owned or funded by a billionaire or even a millionaire. We do have a Patreon. Even sites owned by billionaires and millionaires have Patreons so please don’t hold that against us. And we’re paying all of our writers, photographers and graphic designers. So please consider our Patreon. If you can't afford to become a patron, please sign up to our mailing list. It's free and we're asking here instead of a pop-up. Pop-ups are annoying.