Lypsinka
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Lypsinka is the stage name of John Epperson.
Regularly used in pre-show videos - as recently as 2024.
Morrissey dedicated several paragraphs describing them in Autobiography:
"I am pulled in to see a show by Lypsinka, who is a living picture created by the man who hides within, John Epperson. This show is so fascinating that I return to see it eleven times, and each time I laugh louder. Although the entire show is lip-synch’d (naturally), there is never a single moment when it seems as if anyone other than Lypsinka is singing and talking with her own voice – which she isn’t, of course, since the soundtrack is a high-speed montage of female voices from American entertainment history; Oscar acceptance speeches, crude recordings, vintage commercials, sitcom snippets, familiar splats of show tunes, all of which cease to be the property of A Rage to Live or Valley of the Dolls and instead become copyright Epperson to the watcher’s eye. Visually, Lypsinka is a fresco assemblage of Eileen Heckart, Lucille Ball and Barbara Billingsley mid-seizure. A sensual and sophisticated vision, Lypsinka’s audience burn incense at the mention of her name; the imagination is insatiable, the vicious taste of unrestrained passion, the waist Mitzi Gaynor thin, the Rita Moreno dancers’ legs agile and smooth. Does Lypsinka visit? Or is she dwelt in? It’s so good that it’s hard to describe, and the assembled audience – although laughing – don’t seem to know what it is, yet cannot look away. Without reservation, the audience dispenses gasps and applause at the Epperson skill; a star absolute, a star essential, but very, very clever – and far too intelligent for the clod-hop world of dopey drag. Pencil-thin Epperson has done something far more important with mime and it increases throughout the 90-minute show, even if he himself is Lypsinka’s alter-ego and not the other way around. With a lover’s eye, he mimes the moves of others, but he is the last person who could be accused of doing nothing, since the physical stretch of his duty across the stage is athletic. In fact, he works harder onstage than those who delivered the dialogue in the first place."
Mentioned In
- Tour Of The Tormentors MMVI 2006-2007 Pre-show Tracks
- Greatest Hits Tour 2007-2008 Pre-show Tracks
- Tour Of Refusal 2009 Pre-show Tracks
- Swords Tour 2009 Pre-show Tracks
- World Tour 2011 Pre-show Tracks
- World Tour 2012-2013 Pre-show Tracks
- World Peace Is None Of Your Business Tour 2014-2017 Pre-show Tracks
- Low In High School Tour 2017-2018 Pre-show Tracks
- North America Tour 2019 Pre-show Tracks
- Live In Concert 2020 Pre-show Tracks
- Live In Concert 2022 Pre-show Tracks
- Live In Concert 2023 and 40 Years Of Morrissey Pre-show Tracks
- Live In Concert 2024 Pre-show Tracks
Discogs Information
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Wikipedia Information
John Epperson (born April 24, 1955) is an American drag artist, actor, pianist, vocalist, and writer who is mainly known for creating his stage character Lypsinka. As Lypsinka, he lip-synchs to meticulously edited, show-length soundtracks culled from snippets of outrageous 20th-century female performances in movies and song.