The Vivienne honoured at the Attitude Awards with touching musical tribute from drag sisters Bimini, Tia Kofi and more (EXCLUSIVE)
'Your Light Will Shine' was released last month in memory of James Lee Williams, best known as The Vivienne, who died in January at the age of 32
By Aaron Sugg
The late drag icon The Vivienne was honoured with a moving musical tribute at the 2025 Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar, performed by drag sisters Bimini, Tia Kofi, Bentley Robles, Eden Hunter and Janethan, with the tribute single ‘Your Light Will Shine.’
James Lee Williams, best known as The Vivienne, died in January at the age of 32 following a cardiac arrest caused by the effects of ketamine.
Introduced by Mika, the host said: “To honour The Vivienne, we now share a new song written by her friend and manager Simon Jones, with proceeds supporting Switchboard.”
The drag stars took to the stage after the Drag Race UK star’s sister, Chanel Williams, collected the Inspiration Award on behalf of her late brother.
Speaking exclusively to Attitude on the red carpet, Tia Kofi described what it means to honour her late drag sister.
“Viv was such a confident and amazing person” – Tia Kofi on The Vivienne
She said: “One of my fondest memories of The Vivienne is from many years ago when we performed at Manchester Pride.”
Recalling the moment, she laughed: “In our rehearsals, The Vivienne refused to do choreography because she was like, ‘I can’t dance, this is too hard.’ Fast forward a year, and she’s in the final of Dancing on Ice.”
She quipped: “My love, can you not dance? Can you not? I think you’ll find you can.”
Speaking on fond memories, she added: “Viv was such a confident and amazing person, and even seeing her insecurities and things she wasn’t sure she could do behind the scenes was wonderful.
“She’d be like, ‘You need to calm down'” – Kofi on what The Vivienne’s reaction would be to their tribute
“If Viv were here tonight and saw us all performing a song in her honour, she’d be like, ‘You need to calm down, like, what are you playing at?'”
On a serious note Kofi concluded: “But I hope that wherever she is now, she sees what we are doing and loves it. I think she would be honoured.”
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