Kelly Heelton

Kelly Heelton is the stage name of Fausto Israel de Souza, a Brazilian-born German drag performer^[1][2] who competed on the first season of Drag Race Germany. She was born in Brazil^[3] and resides in Bad Schwalbach.^[4]

Kelly Heelton
Born	Fausto Israel de Souza (1981-09-15) September 15, 1981 (age 43) São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Occupation	Drag queen
Television	Drag Race Germany
Website	kellyheelton.com

Life

Kelly Heelton comes from a musical family, with her father being a guitarist and her aunt an opera singer. At the age of 6, Heelton was already a soloist in a church gospel choir in her hometown of São Paulo.^[5] From 1998 to 2002 she studied the arts at the Universidade de São Paulo.^[6] In addition to her first musical productions, she worked as a dance teacher. In 2003, Heelton moved to Fulda, Hesse as an au pair, but later moved to Hamburg, where her cousin starred in the musical production of The Lion King.^[5] Since 2008, Heelton has been the singer of the bands Cocoda and Nativa Brasileira.^[7] She also teaches children singing, dancing and acting.^[8]

Career

Kelly Heelton made her debut as a drag queen in 2005 in Cologne, when she filled in for another drag queen in a Destiny’s Child tribute trio. In this performance, she took on the role of Kelly Rowland, from which her drag name is derived.^[5][8] She has performed worldwide, including Spain, Italy, Poland, China, and Russia.^[9] In 2016, she hosted her own drag competition: Kelly Heelton's Next Drag Superstar, broadcast on YouTube. 14 drag queens competed against each other, based on RuPaul's Drag Race.^[10] In the first season of Drag Race Germany, she took 4th place. She was eliminated in the 10th episode in a lip sync against Metamorkid.

Filmography

• Drag Race Germany
• Bring Back My Girls
• Drag Race Brasil (2025; season 2); guest judge^{[citation needed]}