Jake Shears

Jason F. Sellards, born October 3, 1978, and known professionally as Jake Shears, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist of the New York City pop-rock band Scissor Sisters, which achieved notable chart success during the 2000s before entering an indefinite hiatus in 2012. Since 2017, Shears has pursued a solo music career alongside various collaborations, stage roles, and screen acting projects.

Shears was born in Mesa, Arizona, to an entrepreneur father and a practicing Baptist mother, Frieda. He grew up on San Juan Island, Washington, where he attended Friday Harbor High School and experienced bullying. At age 18, he moved to the Northwest School in Seattle to finish high school, and later attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. At age 19, he visited a classmate in Lexington, Kentucky, where he met Scott Hoffman. The pair quickly formed a connection and relocated to New York City a year later.

In New York, Shears studied fiction writing at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, wrote for the magazine HX, and worked as a music reviewer for Paper magazine in 2000. In 2001, Shears and Hoffman formed Scissor Sisters, performing in Brooklyn clubs like Luxx. The group achieved major success in the United Kingdom and Ireland, ending 2004 with the UK's highest-selling album of the year. Known for his flamboyant performance style, Shears has cited musical influences ranging from David Bowie and Queen to Cher and Madonna.

Throughout his career, Shears has collaborated with numerous artists. He co-wrote Kylie Minogue's hit single "I Believe in You" with Babydaddy, and later worked with her and Calvin Harris on "Too Much". His other collaborations include works with Erasure's Andy Bell, Tiga, Luomo, Amadou and Mariam, Queens of the Stone Age, and Cher. In 2011, he teamed with John Garden to write music for a stage adaptation of Tales of the City, and he later appeared on The Desert Sessions in 2019.

In addition to music, Shears has expanded into stage performance, writing, and television. He published his autobiography, Boys Keep Swinging, in February 2018. That same year, he made his Broadway debut as Charlie in Kinky Boots, a role he reprised at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022. In 2020, he placed sixth on the ITV show The Masked Singer. He later made his West End debut starring as the Emcee in Cabaret from September 2023 to March 2024.

Shears launched his official solo music career in October 2017 with the single "Creep City." He released his self-titled debut solo album in August 2018, reaching number 20 on the UK charts, followed by his second album, Last Man Dancing, in June 2023. Shears has continued to take on new creative projects, including featured work on Boyfriend's concept album In the Garden, his film acting debut in Pillion, and a planned role as Frank-N-Furter in a Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show.

In his personal life, Shears came out as gay at age 15. In 2010, he participated in the It Gets Better Project, sharing his experiences to help support others. He was in a long-term relationship with Chris Moukarbel from 2004 until 2015.