A larger-than-life performer best remembered for his 1960 R&B chart-topper "There Is Something on Your Mind," singer Bobby Marchan was born Oscar James Gibson in Youngstown, OH, on April 30, 1930. As a child he became fascinated by the female impersonators who appeared on the so-called "chitlin circuit" of black nightclubs, and began singing and performing comedy in drag while in his teens. In 1953 Marchan organized his own drag troupe, the Powder Box Revue; during a booking at New Orleans' ~Dew Drop Inn, he became enamored with the city, making it his home for the remainder of his life. There he accepted a job as MC at ~the Club Tijuana, where he was discovered by Aladdin Records president Eddie Meisner.
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