Adèle Anderson is an Olivier Award-nominated singer and actress, a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association, and one third of the internationally acclaimed and terribly British satirical singing cabaret act, Fascinating Aida. Born in 1952, she transitioned in 1973 to become Adèle. She worked as a woman for a time before coming out as transgender. In a review for Fascinating Aida’s 1985 Edinburgh Fringe show, the Financial Times reviewer wrote, “You could have fooled me that the one with the smoky brown voice isn’t a man in drag”. The press would not let the story go, and went as far as to call her parents in the middle of the night. Rather than deny it, Anderson came out as trans in an interview, and carried on performing with Fascinating Aida.

In her career, Anderson has been an affirmative role model for trans visibility. In the film Company Business (1991) she played a Marlene impersonator in a Berlin drag bar. On the trans love story Different For Girls (1996) she was a special advisor.

As an activist, Anderson stands for human rights across the board. In an interview for the British Humanist Association, she said, “I do not wish to prevent anyone from practising their religion, no matter how bizarre or ludicrous I may find it, so long as it does not impinge on my right not to do so, nor to have to embrace any aspect of it. ‘Live and let live’ is my motto. I only wish that all ‘believers’ would adhere to that, too.” She continues to perform with Fascinating Aida.