Harris Glenn Milstead (October 19, 1945 Towson, Maryland - March 7, 1988) was better known by his drag persona Divine.

Born to Bernard and Diana Francis Milstead, at the age of 12 the family moved to Lutherville, a suburb of Baltimore. John Waters was a childhood friend whom he met while living there.

Divine starred in a number of films, and was particularly well known as being part of the regular crew known as the Dreamlanders that appeared in many of John Waters earlier works such as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, and Hairspray. Repeating their successful pairing in Polyester, in 1985 Divine appeared opposite Tab Hunter in their bigger hit Lust in the Dust.

In the 1980s, Glenn's music was a hit through America, Europe, and Australia. His music had progressive house techno beats with energizing lyrics that appealed to synth boppers.

"Glenn was born before civil rights, gay rights, or women's rights...God doesn't want people created out of a Xerox machine...The tragedy is that Glenn was cut off right at the point of becoming who he really was, and the world will never see how that flower could have unfolded."
—Reverend Leland Higginbotham in his Eulogy at Divine's funeral; Baltimore, Maryland, March, 1988

Divine died from an enlarged heart.

He is also remembered as a major character in the documentary homage Divine Trash (1998) by Steve Yeager, covering the life and work of John Waters.

Filmography

• Eat Your Makeup (1968)
• Mondo Trasho (1969)
• The Diane Linkletter Story (1969)
• Multiple Maniacs (1970)
• Pink Flamingos (1972) (aka John Waters' Pink Flamingos)
• Female Trouble (1974)
• Polyester (1981)
• Trouble in Mind (1985)
• Lust in the Dust (1985)
• Hairspray (1988)
• Out of the Dark (1989)

Discography

• My First Album (1982)
• Jungle Jezebel (1982)
• The Story So Far (1984)
• Maid In England (1988)
• The Best Of & The Rest Of (1989) (compilation)
• The 12" Collection (1993) (compilation)
• Born to Be Bad (1995) (live)
• Shoot Your Shot (1995)
• The Originals and the Remixes (1996) (2 CD compilation)
• The Best of Divine (1997) (compilation)

Some of his Hi-NRG Dance Hits (music)

• "Native Love (Step by Step)" (1982)
• "Shoot Your Shot" (1982)
• "Love Reaction" (1983)
• "Shake It Up" (1983)
• "You Think You're a Man" (1984)
• "I'm So Beautiful" (1984)
• "Walk Like a Man" (1985)

References

• Jay, Bernard (1994). Not Simply Divine. New York: Fireside. ISBN 0-671-88467-0
• Milstead, Frances; Heffernan, Kevin; and Yeager, Steve (2001). My Son Divine. Los Angeles: Alyson Books. ISBN 1555835945

External links

• The Divine Page
• Divine on Yahoo!
• MTV.com Divine