Wayne County first established a presence amid the frenetic early-1970s New York punk milieu centered on the city’s underground clubs. Later recognized as the initial major rock performer to present as transsexual, the artist adopted the name Jayne County upon reentering the United States from Berlin in 1980. Born Wayne Rogers in Dallas, Georgia, near Atlanta, around 1947, the performer selected the stage surname while taking part in Jackie Curtis’s play Femme Fatale. Several roles in Andy Warhol-linked theatrical productions followed, after which County served as the house DJ at the storied Max’s Kansas City. Beginning in 1972, appearances onstage at the venue occurred in drag, culminating in the 1976 composition and recording of the celebratory track “Max’s Kansas City,” backed by the Back Street Boys. American record companies showed little interest in the trashy, campy style of rock & roll shaped by New York Dolls influences, prompting a relocation to London precisely as the local punk movement gained traction.
The Safari label provided a base for the newly formed Electric Chairs, resulting in the self-titled debut album The Electric Chairs in 1978. Storm the Gates of Heaven and Things Your Mother Never Told You both appeared in 1979; thereafter County withdrew to Berlin, reemerging as Jayne County before heading back to North America in 1980. The 1981 live release Rock ’n’ Roll Resurrection marked the first project issued under the Jayne County billing, with a largely reconstituted Electric Chairs lineup in support.
Recording activity remained sparse until the self-produced Private Oyster surfaced in 1986; an unauthorized edition later circulated as Amerikan Cleopatra, and the pair received a combined reissue in 2017. Scattered projects appeared throughout the 1990s, mixing fresh material with revised earlier songs. The autobiography Man Enough to Be a Woman was published in 1996, followed in 1999 by a fresh studio version of the song “Fuck Off,” issued as “Fuck Off 2000.” The 2002 live album Wash Me in the Blood of Rock & Roll included a duet with Handsome Dick Manitoba of the Dictators. Material recorded in 1974, long presumed missing, finally surfaced on the 2006 collection Wayne County at the Trucks.
