Sexy American export

In 2003 Peyton signed his first single to the Hed Kandi label and was also invited to be one of the five presenters on the UK version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He is now travelling the world as a solo artist.

I’m here in Australia for two and a half months. I’m strategically escaping the British weather. For the past four summers I’ve toured Australia and built up my network. So much work has come in and I wish I could stay longer.

I was also the food and drink guy on the British Queer Eye For The Straight Guy. Basically at the time I had a catering and events company which did high profile socials for important people and PR agencies.

To be honest I wasn’t completely convinced that it was something I wanted to do. I went for the screening and straight away they wanted me. It was weird because the show was made up of two Americans, two Australians and only had one Brit.

We did two series and it was really successful but none of us wanted to do a third series as it was riddled with problems and difficult characters.

There was some competition between the guys and in a sense my profile was enhanced. It was a camp set of people but I’m no Jamie Oliver.

Music is really where my passion lies. At the same time when I was filming for that show I was off performing in Ibiza and countries all over Europe. At that time I was already signed with Hed Kandi.

Hed Kandi is a house music disco brand. It was just hitting its peak but now it’s owned by Ministry Of Sound. The songs that I’m well known for are Higher Place, All Rise and Celebrate. They’re definitely the songs people would recognise at a club.

I grew up singing all my life in church as my father was a Pentecostal preacher in the States, so I had a very Evangelical upbringing. I went off to study music at a very conservative Christian college in Tennessee and travelled the world as a gospel singer.

Being gay didn’t work well together with that. I left the church and didn’t know what do to with my voice. I ended up going to Colombia and became a professor for three years teaching literature at the time when Pablo Escobar was killed.

I moved to England ten years ago and was picked up by Virgin Records and was in a big project. Someone spotted me at a wedding reception at a cool party in Notting Hill and from there on I was in a group produced by Nellee Hooper, who was behind some of the Gwen Stefani hits. We were doing massive videos at Universal Studios but unfortunately it all went ass-up.

This year, hopefully, I will release a Peyton dance album in the US but in the meantime I will be performing at various places across Australia. I played at Family Nightclub in Brisbane just recently, which was amazing, but I’ve played at Home, Tank and the Shift as well.

I’ve just hooked up with Daniel Alexander, who is an upcoming Queensland-based fashion designer. He will be sponsoring me for my world tour and the clothes are really cool and funky for men.

On Saturday 9 February, I’m doing a big show at Slide for my birthday and I’m calling it Peyton’s Stage of Aquarius. It’s actually the day of my birthday and I’ll perform a few different sets throughout the night. I’m going to do a more intimate soulful set at the start and later in the night I’ll do some dance stuff as well.

Also on Saturday 16 February, I’m teaming up with Shauna Jensen at Will and Toby’s supper club in a night called Evolution. There’ll be a live band and the best house music. I’ll be joining up with the Sol Sessions at the Narrabeen Sands Hotel on Sunday 24 February.

The Sol Beer gig is a unique opportunity. If you’re into live music, it’s a really fun party and you will witness the best of international music. It will be a great way to party on the North Shore this Mardi Gras.

peytonmusic.com

As told to Sunny Burns