Natalie Bassingthwaighte Sets Exclusive Performance Mardi Gras

Natalie Bassingthwaighte will deliver an exclusive performance at 2024 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras — her first since coming out.

The Rogue Traders singer and Australian TV celebrity is locked in for the inaugural Mardi Gras Debutante Ball for First Timers, hosted at Kinsela's in Darlinghurst.

In addition to being the guest of honor at the deb ball, Nat Bass, as she's affectionately known around these parts, will perform some of her “all-time favorite hits” while “sharing her story,” reps say.

As lead singer of Rogue Traders, Bassingthwaighte has achieved silverware and international hits. In 2006, two of these Rogue Traders numbers reached the UK Top 40, including the club track “Voodoo Child”, which reached No.3 on the Official UK Singles Chart.

The dance act also won an ARIA Award in 2003 for 'One of My Kind' (Best Dance Release) and two APRA Music Awards, for 'Way to Go!' in 2006 (most dance) and “In Love Again” in 2008 (dance of the year).

“To be able to attend my first Mardi Gras as a new member of the queer community, surrounded by so much love, joy and acceptance is so special to me,” Bassingthwaighte says in a statement, “and what's even more special is to I know you share this unforgettable experience with other First Timers of different queer identities.”

LGBTQIA+ pioneers and guardians of Mardi Gras will also be in attendance, including LGBTQIA+ advocate Robyn Kennedy, who is an original first-timer who first attended the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in 1978, as well as its judge Making It Australia Benja Harney and transgender fashion designer couple Katie Louise Nicol-Ford and Lilian Nicol-Ford.

Johnnie Walker is a sponsor of Mardi Gras 2024 and sponsors the Mardi Gras Debutante Ball, which celebrates “those who until now could not attend.” The whiskey brand is getting into the Mardi Gras spirit with a contest, which invites first timers to enter for a chance at a all expenses paid experience.

The colorful LGBTQI party, march and festival is typically attended by hundreds of thousands of people from across Australia and overseas and is set for February 16 to March 3.

Basingthwaite was reunited with her Unscrupulous traders bandmates last year for “To The Disco,” their first release in over a decade. The dance act supported the release with a slate of performances.