How cross-dressing wrestler Ladybeard was born in Hong Kong
Ladybeard is a cute five-year-old Japanese girl … who happens to live inside the body of a hairy 32-year-old Australian man – and he’s coming back to Hong Kong to sing this month. Ahead of the show, he reflects on his early mistakes and how his show gradually took off
As fascinating cultural phenomena go, Ladybeard is right up there. A musician, pro wrestler and former martial arts stuntman, Ladybeard is also a tall, hairy, muscular, Tokyo-based Australian who performs pop/heavy metal versions of Japanese pop songs, and also just happens to dress as a five-year-old girl.
His signature style, known as kawaiicore – a combination of kawaii, the Japanese for “cute”, and hardcore – has catapulted him to massive popularity in Japan, where he’s lived since 2013. He has a legion of adoring fans, some of whom attend his every show, while his band LadyBaby, formed in 2014 with actual teenage girls Rie Kaneko and Rei Kuromiya, have more than 11.7 million YouTube views for their debut single Nippon Manju (“Japanese Bun”).
But the character of Ladybeard, an avatar of 32-year-old Adelaide native Richard Magarey, was actually born in Hong Kong, where he lived for six years from 2006 – and to where he returns for a performance of live music at Focal Fair in Causeway Bay on January 16.
Magarey moved to Hong Kong in 2006 to work as a film stuntman, originally intending to stay for just three months. After meeting a stranger at a party wearing a Hong Kong Pro Wrestling Federation T-shirt, he decided to take up the sport. He’d worn a dress to parties in Australia to get a reaction, but found that it created more of a stir when he did it in Hong Kong – and so his choice of wrestling persona was obvious.
Two months later, he found himself taking part in his first pro wrestling bout – wearing a negligee. His stage name was originally the Cantonese Wo So Lui, which translated easily back into English. A long-term lover of both heavy metal and pop music, he started performing metal covers of Cantopop songs during bouts, and his musical act was born.
