At 20, she made history by being the first drag queen to sing live at the famed Cavern Club.

Runcorn native Ben Mee sang smash hits like Sia, Lady Gaga and Radiohead at the world famous town club that is forever linked to the Beatles.

The hairdresser said it was a moment they will never forget.

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They told ECHO: “The Cavern Club launched a drag show in October where we do bottomless drinks, a meal, host games and a cabaret.

“Most lip-sync and dance drag queens and so am I, but since it was the Cavern Club where the Beatles started and we were already making history with the very first drag show in the venue , I just had to be the first drag queen to sing live.

“So I sang a collection of gay classics and pop hits, and the audience loved it. The room is still filled with love and energy, which I think shows a lot more progress for the LGBTQIA+ acceptance in Liverpool.”

The former Grange Academy student started drag racing during lockdown when he needed another source of income during the pandemic.

Ben was performing live online in Facebook groups where they would sing and DJ all night from their cabana. At one point, they drew over 1,000 viewers despite only doing so a handful of times.

When the restrictions were lifted, Ben found the courage to go out in public in drag as Isabella for the first time at Bongo’s Bingo. There they met a group of other queens who helped shape their alter egos.

Now Isabella regularly organizes a concert at ICON, Stanley Street.

They said: “I originally started as a shooter and worked my way up to a hostess, I get paid to get drunk on people. This is the best job one could ask for.

“I still have a long way to go to get where I want to be in the world of drag, but I’ve definitely taken steps forward.

Ben says singing live at the Cavern Club is one of their greatest drag accomplishments to date.

They added, “I’ve been singing in front of people since I was about 10, maybe even earlier. I used to do Lady Gaga concerts in the back garden on the patio, which was my stage, and I had my whole family watch.

“I had a dishcloth on my head and you couldn’t tell me it wasn’t a wig. So when I sang in The Cavern Club, it was so cool, I felt like I made it. The whole room lit up and that was a big deal for me and a big step for progress.

Through the art of drag, Ben learned that they weren’t binary.

Having always felt uncomfortable with the expectation of masculinity placed on young men growing up, Ben felt they could not ignore.

They added: “Initially I was coming home and I didn’t want to take my makeup off, I slept in it a few times. I thought I was a woman and wanted to transition, until I realize I was happy with my body, but I loved it in drag, I was celebrated for being feminine.

“So what am I? I’m right in the middle, I guess? So, I’m non-binary, I don’t want to conform to society’s expectations of what a man is, and I also wanted to bring more of Isabelle’s femininity into Ben’s life.

“I finally have a label to explain how I feel, which made me feel more like I know who I am. It was hard to accept, because growing up in a small town, that was the whole situation. of “there are only two sexes” and that’s what I’ve always been taught.

“It was a battle of ‘are you male or female?’ I can be both, or neither I know not everyone will understand this, and neither will I until I experience it myself.

Isabella will return to the Cavern Club on Wednesday March 2.

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