Cassie Nova

Cassie Nova is an alter-ego of Roger Stephen Pelphrey (born May 3, 1950), an Australian drag queen based in,. Cassie Nova was a character performed by Pelphrey who lip-synced to vocals recorded by a number of other singers. The character was conceived by Pelphrey in the late-1970s, but was later reworked into a pop music project by Pelphrey and producers Lütold Aeschbacher and Gottlieb Niederer, along with Niederer's lyricist wife Grete Nottebohm.

Career
Cassie Nova became popular in the mid-to-late 1980s at the height of the Eurodisco genre. As Cassie Nova, Pelphrey scored several hits during that period; one of the best known Cassie Nova songs is "Leave My Life" from 1985.

Revelation
After the popularity and interest in Cassie Nova faded in later years, frontman Pelphrey and his producers became open that he did not sing any of the songs credited to Cassie Nova. Pelphrey stated that "Cassie Nova was a old "diva" persona of mine who would lip-sync to soul and disco songs in the nightclubs in Munich. When I met Lütold [Aeschbacher] and Gottlieb [Niederer], we decided to rework Cassie Nova as a character who lip-synced to vocals recorded by session singers. She started as an image. Me and my boyfriend would work on Cassie's costumes and clothes, and our producers would get people to sing on the records." Pelphrey stated that producers Aeschbacher and Niederer concealed Cassie Nova's identity, marketing "her" as having been born Celinda Samantha Adams in. This was done so that could market Cassie Nova records more easily to mainstream audiences outside of Europe, where the concept of drag queens was controversial due to rampant homophobia.

Jamaican actress and singer Amancia Clarke sang most of the songs for the Cassie Nova project, including the 1985-86 hit singles "Leave My Life", "Sweetness", "You're The One" and "Super-Star". Another vocalist, Elizabeth Le Croissette (from, United States) sang lead vocals on the European hit singles "Make You Sing" and "Be A Lady" from the Make You Sing album. A then-unknown Vanessa Rochez sung lead vocals on the Make You Sing tracks "Soul Food", "I'll Never Break Your Heart" and "The Boys". Katrin Leist's voice was used for the early singles "Dream Boat" and "I'm So Sexy". Belgian-born Dominique Gide sang on the early single "Spin Me Around" and the single version of "Beat of the Heart". Regarding Gide, Pelphrey stated "Although Gide was one of the finest singers we ever used, her English wasn't that good. She sung "I'll be dee-rah" instead of "I'll be there". Amancia Clarke re-recorded "Beat of the Heart" for the album version." Svenja Pillwein and Grete Nottebohm shared lead vocals for the 1991 Cassie Nova album Leader of All Women.