xelle

XELLE wants you to know that their name is pronounced "XL," because they love big things: big voices, big personalities and making big smash hits. As the first pop group to consist of two girls and a drag queen, they are a girl group with something extra.
While that concept might sound like a novelty, their music is anything but. XELLE makes Mega Pop. Their songs include vocal performances and lush melodies inspired by bands like ABBA, Ace of Base and The Spice Girls. Toss in the dance diva beats of artists like Madonna, Donna Summer, Ke$ha and Britney Spears, and you’ll find all the ingredients that make up XELLE’s delicious sound. Their live show is like fireworks: the girls explode when they hit the stage.
"Party Girl," XELLE's smash debut single, premiered on MTV’s The Seven, and the song's music video went viral after being praised as “campy deliciousness” and “an effing good time” by Perez Hilton on PerezHilton.com. The music video, in which XELLE and 40 friends throw a party on a real, moving NYC subway train without a permit, was filmed in a single take and has been in heavy rotation on television and at video bars across the USA. "Party Girl" has received airplay on radio stations around the world, including Sirius XM Satellite Radio and JOY FM in Australia, where it was among the top ten most popular songs.
Recently, XELLE released another hit: the uplifting dance anthem, "Invincible." The song was released in conjunction with GLSEN, the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, with proceeds from song sales going to support GLSEN's work to create welcoming school communities for all students.The music video for "Invincible" features powerful, fan-submitted videos along with footage of XELLE performing the song all over New York City and spreading inspiring and hopeful messages of loving yourself in the face of bullying. The video garnered glowing press from around the world and received tens of thousands of views in its first week of release.
The group's third music video, for their dance-floor banger, "Queen," received a quarter million hits across the web in its first week of release and features stunning visuals of the girls in outrageous makeup by drag legend Acid Betty as well as guest appearances by ten of the stars of LOGO TV's hit reality show, RuPaul's Drag Race.
XELLE makes a splash with their fashion and personalities as well. The girls were recently featured on an episode of Oxygen's hit reality TV show, Jersey Couture. That appearance won the girls scores of new fans, who were inspired by XELLE's promotion of a positive body image no matter what your size.
Together, JC Cassis, Rony G and Mimi Imfurst are XELLE, but separately, they come from a wide variety of life experiences. They have lived in Boston, Israel, Maine, the Philippines, Holland, and New York City. They’ve written songs, both for their own projects and for other artists such as Martha Wash. They’ve voiced an animated baby penguin, a talking vending machine and numerous radio jingles. They've won Amateur Night at the Apollo and released music as solo artists, including a single on the 2010 FIFA World Cup album “Triumph Through Football” for Sony Music. They’ve served two years in the army and can take apart, put together, and fire an Uzi sub-machine gun, M16 and Galil rifle. They can speak French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Tagalog and English. They can play the piano, flute, saxophone, tambourine, guitar and a fierce kazoo.
They’ve worked with Lady Gaga, Martha Wash, Kathy Griffin, Mya, Crystal Waters, Mo'nique, Salt-N-Pepa, C&C Music Factory, Lil' Kim, Vanessa Williams, LaToya Jackson, Howard Stern, Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell, RuPaul, P!nk, and Dolly Parton. They've dominated the stages of New York City and performed around the world in places such as London, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Thailand, Holland, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, and almost every US State. They’ve been featured in US Weekly and People Magazine. They’ve performed in night clubs, cruise ships, on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall and even 35,000 feet up in the air on a plane.
Their diverse pasts have driven and inspired them to create a unique musical experience for their fans. Despite their eclectic individual histories, fate struck when the three girls met during a chance run-in at a karaoke bar in New York City's famed Chelsea neighborhood. After hearing Rony and JC sing their faces off, Mimi demanded that the two girls sing a song with her, and, since no one says no to a drag queen with a microphone, the three girls sang “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls, not knowing what to expect. It turned out to be a magical moment. Rony’s friend, superstar music producer Zach Adam, watched the performance and was inspired by what he heard. He wrote "Party Girl" for the girls to record as their first single, they formed XELLE, and the rest is music history. After a debut performance as three strangers on a tiny stage in Manhattan, XELLE has begun to take over the world