“It's easy to say, 'This is just a joke.' You know, the bearded lady? And I feel the need to smash it with every performance just because I want to be clear this is not a joke.”

Austrian singer, actor and drag queen

Conchita Wurst is the stage persona of Thomas Neuwirth, an Austrian singer, actor, media personality and drag queen. He is known internationally for winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2014 for Austria with “Rise Like a Phoenix”. Under the name Conchita Wurst, Neuwirth became a public figure beyond music as well as performance. The persona has been widely associated with a bold, glamorous image, and with a song that brought him broad attention across Europe.