Jake Shears

Jason Sellards (born October 3, 1978), known professionally by the stage name Jake Shears, is an American musician. He is best known as the co-lead vocalist of New York City pop-rock band Scissor Sisters, who achieved considerable chart success in the 2000s before their indefinite hiatus in 2012. Since 2017, Shears has pursued a solo career; he released his debut solo studio album, Jake Shears, in August 2018 and his second album Last Man Dancing on June 2, 2023. In addition to his solo career, Shears has collaborated with several artists and made his Broadway debut in Kinky Boots in 2018. Early life Shears was born in Mesa, Arizona, the son of an entrepreneur father and a Baptist mother (Freida Sellards). He grew up on San Juan Island, Washington, where he attended school at Friday Harbor High School and was bullied. His "first real concert was Siouxsie and the Banshees". At the age of 18, he moved into a dorm at the Northwest School in Seattle, Washington, to finish high school. Shears later attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 19, he travelled to Lexington, Kentucky, to visit a classmate, who introduced him to Scott Hoffman. Shears and Hoffman hit it off immediately and moved to New York a year later. Career Early work Shears attended New York's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, where he studied fiction writing and was a classmate of Travis Jeppesen. He also wrote pieces for the gay magazine HX. In 2000, he worked as a music reviewer for Paper magazine.