Added: 11 years ago
Jeremy James Sons, born this day 34 years ago in Denton, Texas, burst upon the scene as 'Mark Dalton' in 2001, and by the end of 2002--when he was named the Advocate's "Man of the Year"--he had appeared on the cover of virtually every gay glossy in the US and abroad. Having begun as a stripper in Miami, he stayed on the dance circuit for a year or so (NYC's Gaiety is where I first saw him in all his pink-and-gold farm-boy beauty) before embarking on a porn career that began, fittingly enough, with a solo turn in "Prick Tease." (In fact, it was a not fully rational resentment of his unswerving self-identification as str8 that fueled much of the ambivalence toward him some gay guys have harbored through the years--all the while spilling enough jizz over his pix & videos to fill a sizable lagoon.) A notably turbulent private life, filled with daunting legal troubles, nearly wrecked his career. But although marked (inevitably) by the effects of passing time and genuine (if largely self-inflicted) personal grief--not to mention far too much ink--he remains a unique and enduring presence in the collective gay imagination to this day. Happy birthday, bello!