Jeffree Star
Jeffree Star
| Born | November 15, 1985 | |
|---|---|---|
| Residence | Calabasas, California, U.S.[1] | |
| Occupation | Youtuber, Make up Artist, singer, and song Writer | |
| Years active | 2003–present Nathan Schwandt (2015–present)YouTube information | |
| Channel | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvK_5omS-42Ovgah8KRKtg | |
| Years active | 2006–present[2] | |
| Genre | Vlog, Makeup and Beauty | |
| Subscribers | 16.6 million | |
| Total views | 2.46 billion | |
| Associated acts | Updated June 8, 2019 | |
Jeffree Star (born Jeffrey Lynn Steininger Jr.; November 15, 1985) is an American Internet celebrity, beauty YouTuber, makeup artist, model, entrepreneur, and singer-songwriter. He is the founder and owner of Jeffree Star Cosmetics.
By 2006, Star had become the most followed person on MySpace. He frequently used the platform to promote his music career. In 2009, Star released his first and only studio album, Beauty Killer, which included songs such as "Lollipop Luxury" featuring Nicki Minaj. He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konvict Muzik—whose founder Akon described Star as "the next Lady Gaga"[4]—with plans to release a second album titled Concealer. However, it was never released and Star abruptly left the music industry in 2013 under unclear circumstances and also due to legal issues Akon was facing between 2007 and 2010.
| Born | November 15, 1985 | |
|---|---|---|
| Residence | Calabasas, California, U.S.[1] | |
| Occupation | Youtuber, Make up Artist, singer, and song Writer | |
| Years active | 2003–present Nathan Schwandt (2015–present)YouTube information | |
| Channel | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkvK_5omS-42Ovgah8KRKtg | |
| Years active | 2006–present[2] | |
| Genre | Vlog, Makeup and Beauty | |
| Subscribers | 16.6 million | |
| Total views | 2.46 billion | |
| Associated acts | Updated June 8, 2019 | |
Early life
Star was born in Orange County, California.[6] His father, Jeffrey L. Steininger,[7] committed suicide when Star was six years old and he was subsequently raised solely by his mother, Marra Shubyann Lindstrom Steininger.[8] As a child, Star alleges he began regularly experimenting with his mother's makeup and convinced her to let him wear it to school when he was in junior high.[9] He moved to Los Angeles following his graduation from high school, supporting himself with various makeup, modeling and music jobs.[10][11] He later recalled spending his time on weekends "using a fake ID to attend Hollywood clubs dressed in mini dresses and nine-inch high heels, where celebrities would contract [Star] for makeup work at their homes."[12]
Career
MySpace
Star used popular social networking website MySpace to further both his music as well as fashion design career.[16] He also used MySpace for blogging about his life, while making social commentary on "self-image and confidence,"[17] fame, beauty, and life. Star had built up a fan base on several websites but convinced many to join him on Myspace, giving his profile a large number of followers from the beginning. His MySpace photoshoots would frequently get over 50,000 comments when posted.[9] Star also gained fame as one of the most popular independent artists, with the daily rankings placing him in the top tier on MySpace.[18]
Music career
Star's music career as an electronica and pop vocalist began when he befriended Peaches' drummer Samantha Maloney, who encouraged him to make music.[9] During the summer of 2007, Star was advertised as a part of the True Colors Tour 2007,[19] which traveled through 15 cities in the United States and Canada.[20] The tour, sponsored by the LGBT Logo channel, began on June 8, 2007, to coincide with Pride Month.[20]
Star released his first and only studio album Beauty Killer in 2009, which peaked at number 7 on the United States Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart.[21] The album included songs such as "Lollipop Luxury" featuring Nicki Minaj. He embarked on several world tours to promote his music. In 2010, he signed to Konvict Muzik—whose founder Akon described Star as "the next Lady Gaga"—with plans to release a second album. However, it was never released and Star abruptly left the music industry in 2013 under unclear circumstances. He later described signing to Akon's record label as "the biggest mistake I've ever made."[22]
Jeffree Star Cosmetics
In 2014, Star founded his e-commerce makeup brand, Jeffree Star Cosmetics, using his life savings.[27] In part of a five-series docuseries, Jeffree Star felt that his music career ended, and he was bankrupt—with a future that was uncertain. He took everything he had to his makeup brand, not knowing that it would be a multi-million dollar company.[28] He started making videos promoting the brand on YouTube, where he later became a popular YouTuber and acquired 15 Million subscribers and over 1.7 billion views, as of June 2019.[29] Bustle magazine described Star as "a Musician and onetime MySpace celeb that reinvented himself in the YouTube makeup tutorial space."[30] His first cosmetics release was a collection of velour liquid lipsticks, which were followed by highlighter palettes, lip scrubs, eyeshadow palettes, clothing, and accessories, such as mirrors and make-up bags.[31] The first East Coast location to carry the cosmetics line was a Morphe Cosmetics store at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey on August 11, 2018.[32] Jeffree Star has since launched several collections, including the new spring collection "Blue Blood" which launched on March 29, 2019.[33] The "Blue Blood" eyeshadow palette sold out within seconds of its launch but has since been restocked.[34]
Theft
On April 1, 2019, Star announced: “At around 1 AM [on March 16], one of my stock and shipping facility warehouses was broken into and more than $2.5 million of the product was stolen from me,”[35] Numerous Northern Light highlighter palettes, 5000 Platinum Ice highlighter palettes, lip liners, and an entire shade of unreleased Magic Star concealer were stolen.[35] It is believed that “professionals” had been “tipped off” by someone who had worked temporarily at the warehouse where the cosmetics were stored. The concealer was placed in a separate area of the facility.[36] The girl who leaked the presence of the concealer has since been arrested. She made the remarks that she wasn't sorry for getting caught, but she was sorry that she took away the spotlight of Star releasing his new product.
Controversies
Feuds in the media
Kat Von D
Jeffree Star's most famous feud is with the famous tattoo artist and owner of Kat Von D Beauty, Kat Von D. Von D ended their relationship claiming “drug use, racism, and bullying”.[37] Star had accused Kat Von D of separating herself from him after launching his own cosmetics line.[38][[LINK|lang_ **en|Kylie_Jenner|Kylie Jenner]]
Kylie Jenner released a product in a packaging design that Star had been using since 2014.
Star was not happy about what he saw as “derivative packaging”.
He had also negatively reviewed her $360 makeup brush set.
After the feud, Jenner removed Star from her PR list.[39]
Kim Kardashian released contour powders in her palette.
When Jeffree Star saw the swatches of the colors, he made the remark that something didn't look right.
Star responded that Kim needed to learn how to swatch properly.
Later, Kim Kardashian tried to defend Star over an allegedly racist remark he had made.
She told followers “to get over it”.
Responding to the backlash, she made a statement, “I really didn't have the right to say 'get over it to a situation that involves racism”.[39]
Manny MUA, Gabriel Zamora, and Laura Lee
Manny MUA, Laura Lee, and Gabriel Zamora all fell out with Star, publicly surfacing after Star called Laura Lee "pure evil".
Gabriel Zamora made a tweet accusing Star of racism.
However, old offensive tweets and Snapchats from Laura, Manny, and Gabriel exposed the trio's hypocrisy. Since then Laura has posted a tearful apology video which was criticized because she was perceived to present herself as a victim.[39] The video has over nine million views and over 711,000 dislikes.[40] Gabriel Zamora posted his own apology which accused Laura and Manny of being fake friends for trying to blame everything on him and trying to separate themselves from the scandal. Lastly, Manny MUA posted his own video apologizing; this also received backlash.[39]
Racism
Star was accused of racism due to derogatory remarks about minorities, although he later apologized for those remarks.[41][42] In a video on MySpace, there is a satirical skit between him and a drag queen. He states that he wants to throw battery acid on a black woman to lighten her skin so it will match her foundation.[43]
Discography
Beauty Killer