40 Fun Facts About Scissor Sisters

Which pop legend co-wrote I Don't Feel Like Dancin' with Scissor Sisters and played its piano part?

Elton John fulfilled one of the band's dreams by joining the session, yet Jake Shears admitted he barely knew his music before the group's debut came out.

Which US retail giant refused to stock the debut Scissor Sisters album, calling one song an attack on conservatism?

Walmart would not sell the album, and the band refused to make a clean version for it. Babydaddy called the parental warning sticker they had to add completely absurd.

Which Pink Floyd song did Scissor Sisters remake as a disco track that earned a Grammy nomination?

Comfortably Numb began as the B-side of their single Electrobix, then outshone it in dance clubs and won over Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Nick Mason.

Which British actor speaks the guest vocals on the Scissor Sisters single Invisible Light?

Ian McKellen came back for an encore fifteen years later, joining the band on stage at Glastonbury in 2025 to perform the song live.

Which BBC series sent the Scissor Sisters track I Can't Decide into the UK chart in 2007?

Doctor Who played it as the Master strode onto the bridge of the Valiant in Last of the Time Lords, and downloads alone then took the song to number 64.

Which rock star called Scissor Sisters the best pop group in the world in their debut year, 2004?

Bono gave the verdict as the band's first album became the UK's biggest seller of the year, an unlikely feat for a group born in underground clubs.

Which TV series covered Let's Have a Kiki by Scissor Sisters with guest star Sarah Jessica Parker?

Glee mashed it up with the Broadway number Turkey Lurkey Time for its Thanksgiving episode, sung by Parker with Lea Michele and Chris Colfer.

Which pop star sings uncredited backing vocals on the Scissor Sisters single Any Which Way?

Kylie Minogue already owed the band a hit: Jake Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced her single I Believe in You.

Which chart-topping star took Scissor Sisters on the road as her opening act in early 2011?

Lady Gaga brought the band along for select dates on the third leg of her Monster Ball Tour, while they were promoting the album Night Work.

On which ITV contest did Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters compete in early 2020?

The Masked Singer hid him inside a unicorn costume for its first British series, by which time he had launched a solo career.

In which musical did Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters make his 2018 Broadway debut, playing Charlie?

Kinky Boots has songs by Cyndi Lauper, one of Shears' musical heroes, and he returned to the part at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022.

For Halloween 2004, Scissor Sisters asked a London crowd to dress as characters from which musical?

The Rocky Horror Show suited them: its creator Richard O'Brien is among the acts the band is often compared to, and they wore the costumes too.

The punning stage name of Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters is said to reflect a deep love of what?

Robots fascinate her so much that in 2015 she published a book about them, tracing automatons and androids from the ancient world to the distant future.

At which ceremony did Scissor Sisters win three prizes in 2005, including Best International Album?

BRIT Awards voters gave the band more trophies than any other act that night, all in international categories because the group is American.

Which hitmaking DJ co-produced the Scissor Sisters single Only the Horses in 2012?

Calvin Harris helped it enter the UK chart at number 12, and the video shows horses hauling ropes until fountains of paint burst out.

Which honour did I Don't Feel Like Dancin' win Scissor Sisters in the Most Performed Work category?

The Ivor Novello Award honours songwriting, so the trophy recognised Jake Shears, Babydaddy and their famous co-writer rather than the performance.

Critics likened I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by Scissor Sisters to a 1976 falsetto hit by which singer?

Leo Sayer topped the US chart with You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, and reviewers heard its falsetto and its title answered three decades on.

Which band's Hopes and Fears lost to Scissor Sisters as the UK's top album of 2004 by 582 copies?

Keane came that close, and both albums went on to be certified nine times platinum in the UK.

Which Scissor Sisters song did Jake Shears base on coming out to his Southern Baptist parents?

Take Your Mama pictures a gay man showing his mother the nightlife so they can bond, and its chorus first came to Shears in the shower.

For whom did Jake Shears write Mary, the ballad on the debut Scissor Sisters album?

His best friend was Mary Hanlon, and the song is about his deep platonic love for her. She died of a brain aneurysm in April 2006.

Which British label signed Scissor Sisters after their Pink Floyd cover caught its attention?

Polydor first tested the band with a limited release of Laura, which stalled at number 54 before a reissue the next summer took it to number 12.

Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters made his West End debut in 2023 as the Emcee in which musical?

Cabaret kept him in London's West End until March 2024, and a casting director who saw him there then offered him his first film role.

Which rapper guests on Shady Love, the Scissor Sisters track billing Jake Shears as Krystal Pepsy?

Azealia Banks went uncredited, and the planned single release was cancelled, so only 300 fans received it on vinyl.

Which newcomer, fresh from her number one Smile, supported Scissor Sisters at Wembley Arena in 2006?

Lily Allen played all three nights as the band closed a UK tour, only months after Smile had topped the singles chart.

Which Scottish band joined Scissor Sisters at V Festival to cover David Bowie's Suffragette City?

Franz Ferdinand shared the stage while the band headlined, and both acts later covered songs for the same War Child charity album.

Which producer of Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor helped Scissor Sisters make Night Work?

Stuart Price joined after the band scrapped about 18 months of earlier sessions, and the liner notes credit him with everything in between.

Whose 1980 photograph of dancer Peter Reed fills the cover of the Scissor Sisters album Night Work?

Robert Mapplethorpe shot the dancer from behind, and guitarist Del Marquis likened the sleeve to the back of the Rolling Stones album Sticky Fingers.

Where in London did Scissor Sisters play a free charity concert for ballot winners in September 2006?

Trafalgar Square hosted the show in aid of the Red charity, two days before the band's second album arrived in British shops.

Which original Scissor Sisters drummer left amicably in 2008 and later ran a record store?

Paddy Boom, who is straight, once reassured his mother that it was not a gay band but one about the music and the performance.

Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters wrote songs for a 2011 San Francisco stage musical of which book?

Tales of the City is Armistead Maupin's much-loved saga of life in the 1970s, and Shears wrote the score with touring keyboardist JJ Garden.

Which director of An American Tail animated part of the Scissor Sisters video for Mary?

Don Bluth got the call because the band fondly remembered the animated sequence his studio made for the film Xanadu.

Which star of Showgirls and Bound plays the Jew's harp on the Scissor Sisters track I Can't Decide?

Gina Gershon is credited in the Ta-Dah liner notes for the instrument, on the same track where touring keyboardist JJ Garden plays piano.

Which Roxy Music song did Scissor Sisters cover for the charity album War Child Presents Heroes?

Do the Strand was first road-tested at two secret 2008 gigs, where the band hid behind joke names to try out songs they later scrapped.

On which US daytime soap did Scissor Sisters perform I Don't Feel Like Dancin' in February 2007?

Passions hosted the band on two consecutive days, and they also played the ballad Land of a Thousand Words.

Del Marquis of Scissor Sisters, born Derek Gruen in New York, has formal training in which craft?

Furniture design is his formal training, and he first dismissed the band after seeing them play a New York City gay bar.

Which Australian show's US remake with Molly Shannon took a Scissor Sisters song as its theme?

Kath & Kim ran on NBC with Selma Blair as the daughter, opening to Filthy/Gorgeous, which had already topped the Billboard dance chart.

Which columnist urged a teenage Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters to come out, then regretted it?

Dan Savage later called it the worst advice he had ever given because of how the parents reacted, and Shears went on to join his It Gets Better Project.

Ana Matronic of Scissor Sisters sang on Jetstream, a 2005 single by which Manchester band?

New Order released it from the album Waiting for the Sirens' Call, and she shares the songwriting credit with the band.

Babydaddy of Scissor Sisters studied writing and music production at which Ivy League university?

Columbia awarded him his degree in 1999, and he went on to work in dance music before the band took off.

Which sports video game's soundtrack features the 2010 Scissor Sisters single Fire with Fire?

FIFA 11 put the song on its soundtrack in the same year it debuted at number 11 on the UK singles chart.