Jim Bailey (January 10, 1938 – May 30, 2015)

I’d forgotten how good Jim Bailey‘s impersonations of famous female singers was. I was reminded by a Facebook clip of one of his appearances on “The Carol Burnett Show” yesterday. He was at the height of his fame in 1973, when the above photograph was taken.

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These days, it’s far more ‘normal’ that a man dresses up as a woman to impersonate one. In the late 60’s and early 70’s, Bailey’s impersonations were phenomenal. What made him able to do this so well?

Ah, yes: Neptune in the 12th House (of the Unconscious) in opposition to Mars and Saturn. Combine that with the Moon/Uranus conjunction, inconjunct to the Ascendant, and Pluto in opposition to the Sun and Jupiter, inconjunct to Mercury and you have the makings of s great performer.

Notice that the opening caption shows a wrong birth year of 1949. Bailey’s go-to position seems to be to laugh, mostly at himself. We will never see the like of him again.