Pittsburgh's Sharon Needles captures 'RuPaul's Drag Race' title

For a so-called City of Champions that was a little short on champions this year, there was one bright spot. One winner stepped forward to save the season, confident in 6-inch heels.

Pittsburgh's Sharon Needles won "RuPaul's Drag Race," the gleefully absurd drag-queen competition on the cable channel Logo. She took home the $100,000 prize and the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar."

"Drag queen is such an ugly word," says Needles, otherwise known as Aaron Coady, 30. "That is what we are, but we could also be called some of the greatest performance artists in America. ... What this show does is allow the viewer to actually witness one of the most bizarre career choices humanly imaginable. And, show the real heart and the real compassion and real artistic drive of these people."

The competition involved dressing up like a glamorous beer mug; a blood-dribbling zombie; a wrestler on WTF: World's Trashiest Fighters; and a presidential candidate, while weathering host RuPaul's never-ending stream of double-entendres and twisted curveball challenges.

"The whole experience was just such a trick-or-treat to me," she says. "I really loved it. It was a mixture of prison and summer camp."

Needles has been a bit busy since the win, which happened a few weeks ago. Our interview kept getting pushed back until she finally had time to talk on the phone while in a New York City cab, heading out for jewelry shopping. It seems that everyone wants a piece of Sharon Needles now that she's a champion.

Needles won with a style and character she honed in Pittsburgh, her adopted hometown after a largely unhappy childhood spent in rural Iowa.

"I didn't finish high school and I didn't go to college, but my education didn't stop when I walked out of Newton Senior High at the age of 16," Needles says. "I've always been a student of hard knocks, and I've always loved subculture, street culture, punk culture."

Needles bopped around the country before coming to Pittsburgh, imagining she would stay no more than three weeks.

"It'll be eight years Sept. 27," she says. "I think Pittsburgh is America's best kept secret, and is so rich with campy, gritty history. It's my kind of scene."

She created the Sharon Needles persona gradually, adding new layers of outrageous weirdness until she had something utterly unique. Pittsburgh influences continued to creep into her act, so to speak.

"Oh, most definitely," Needles says. "George Romero, Andy Warhol, and a very famous drag queen, Christina Ugly-era. So, I'm in really good company. But I think the biggest part of Pittsburgh that has gotten into my drag is the grittiness and the flaws, and the appreciation of things being a little rough around the edges."

The fourth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" had plenty of memorable moments, but the first episode, "RuPocalypse Now!" -- which required "post-apocalyptic couture fierceness" -- seemed designed with Sharon Needles in mind. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, one of Sharon's childhood heroes, was one of the guest judges.

The presidential debate episode also played into her hands.

"As dumb as I portray myself on TV, I don't think you can really capitalize on this art form without being aware of your social climate," says Needles, who says she reads two newspapers and listens to NPR every day. "I will say, all of the 13 queens (in the competition), much as I love them, I was the only one who knew what was going on in this world."

At the moment, Sharon Needles is hard to pin down.

"Touring, doing three to five shows a week coast to coast. Doing my best to meet every fan who was there to support me from day one. I've got to thank the fans for coming out in huge masses to support a little Pittsburgh transgressional, punk rock, messy drunk artist."

Despite the opportunities opening up in New York, L.A. and elsewhere, Needles plans to keep making time for Pittsburgh.

"At home, I still do what I consider to be my best shows," she says. "I may not be making a $6,000 booking fee. My dressing room may not be at a temp of 62 degrees and champagne on ice. But in my opinion, those are the best shows on Earth. I just did a show at the Brillobox, completely inspired by 'Beverly Hills 90210,' and I played Brenda Walsh."

At this point, Sharon Needles is nowhere close to putting aside her prickly, perpetually offensive persona.

"I can't put Sharon away," she says. "I'm more addicted to Sharon than I am addicted to Yuengling. That's a bold statement, girl."