Sydney drag legend Leggs Galore (1958–1993) was born Clifford Powell in the West Indies. He moved to the mid-western American state of Ohio as a child before studying ballet in New York. While teaching dance in San Francisco, he began a relationship with an Australian man and followed him to Sydney, arriving here in December 1981. When Powell overstayed his visa he was forced to return to the US, where he changed his name to Kliphe Gillard before moving back to Sydney permanently.

Gillard had never performed as drag artist in the US, but in Sydney he entered a local competition ‘as a joke’. He was soon performing regularly at Patchs nightclub on Oxford Street, then Sydney’s drag training ground. Nicknamed ‘Leggs Galore’ by the barman at the nearby Flinders Hotel, Gillard performed incredible acrobatics as part of his choreography. He became the main attraction there, before making the Albury Hotel his home base from 1988.

A star of Sydney gay nightlife for over a decade, Gillard lived through the emergence of AIDS, when many feared the LGBTQI+ community might be destroyed. He never missed the chance to use his performances to promote AIDS awareness and safe sex, and to speak out against bigotry, violence and intolerance.