Jason Hayes didn't hesitate when asked to describe Tajma Hall, who died unexpectedly on April 19 from cardiac arrest at Evanston Hospital.
She was real, Hayes said.
"In an industry where you spend your entire career putting on a face that is not yours, performing a song that is not yours, dancing to someone else's music to entertain a crowd and pretend to be someone else, it was amazing to meet someone who was so real, so genuine, and so pure. Taj truly got it, on stage and off. She could entertain you when the lights were on, and was a real, true friend when the lights were off because she truly cared," said Hayes, 44, who is a hair, wig and makeup artist in New York City—and he knew Hall for about nine years.
The two last spoke by phone about 12 hours before she died.
Hall was 44.
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"She meant so much to so many people across the country. Chicago wasn't the only place where the Lady Tajma Hall left her mark. Queens from across the U.S. knew Taj, and she impacted their lives—as a pageant queen and as a person," Hayes said. "We lost way more than just a local Chicago performer … we lost an icon."
Len Patrick Leflore, 44, a nurse who lived in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, was friends with Tajma Hall for almost 14 years. He added, "She was a great entertainer who will be deeply missed. Her legacy is going to live on because everyone looked up to her. She touched lived well beyond Chicago, all across the U.S. She was a wonderful, wonderful person, and I know she now is in heaven looking down on us knowing that she left a mark—because she absolutely did."
Hall won numerous pageants, including Miss Continental Plus in 2007 and Miss Gay USofA At Large in 2008, and the Miss All-American about 15 years ago. Tajma Hall hosted the popular Hy-Drag Revue at Hydrate Nightclub in Lakeview, a gig she held for 11 years. Plus, she was the official emcee for the annual Continental Pageant Plus & Elite for the past eight years.
"She was a mother figure to so many of us in the community," said RaShaan Houston, 40, a recording artist and housing professional, who also was an entertainer, and lived in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. Houston was the first child in the extended Hall family of 30 or more.
"She always had great advice, never judged or criticized anyone. She also was very spiritual."
Fittingly, Houston said, the last time he saw Tajma Hall was Friday night at the hospital. She was sitting up in her bed, painting her face.
And it was a pageant-worthy painting, Houston said, laughing.
"Thinking about it now, I think she just wanted to paint her face one more time.
I believe she was preparing herself for something. Now, thinking back and knowing her faith, she was painting her face, preparing to meet Jesus [Christ]. That's a comforting thought for me," said Houston, who knew Tajma Hall for 11 years.
Houston was with others on that Saturday afternoon, shortly after Tajma Hall's death, consoling each other at the hospital. They sat by her for five hours or more, he said, tears flowing. He added, "She looked very peaceful, as if she was sleeping. She didn't look like she had suffered."
Houston, who is originally from New Mexico and has lived in Chicago for seven years, said he is going to miss Hall's "comedy, her advice, her laugh, her voice, her facial expressions … everything."
"I'm happy that she's now reunited with some of her drag sisters [in heaven]," Houston said. "She always had class … that's why we called her the Lady Tajma Hall."
Jaida Essence Hall, 26, who lives in Milwaukee, met Hall about three years ago—and was quickly adopted into Hall's family. She then quickly adopted the use of Hall's name, too.
"Tajma Hall took me in and showed me the ropes," said Essence Hall. "I'll always remember her laugh … and her fragrance. There was that beautiful smell that always was … Taj."
Her chosen fragrance was Clinique Happy Heart, Essence Hart said.
"Taj was just like a real mother—to me and so many others. "Her heart, it was loving to everyone. She treated everyone fairly, equally."
Hayes added, "She was always honest and every word she said was real. She never broke her word, never, ever, ever. She was class, grace and elegant, and above all that, she was true."
For Jack Neilsen of Chicago, there was of course Lady Tajma Hall the entertainer, but also, the real-life K.B. Watkins.
Neilsen and Hall were roommates in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood for about the past 10 years.
They met through a mutual friend. Neilsen was visiting Chicago for the weekend, contemplating moving to Chicago, and she was visiting for the weekend also and she too was contemplating moving to Chicago.
"We instantly clicked," said Neilsen, 39.
He moved to Chicago in October 2002, and she moved to the suburbs of Chicago in November 2002.
Neilsen quickly became Tajma's right-hand man, traveling with her to almost all of her shows, helping her however needed.
Living together "totally made sense," if only for logistic reasons, Neilsen said.
Neilsen, who works as a project manager for Advocate Healthcare, said that Tajma Hall, contrary to her public persona, was very low-key at home—not the crazy, exuberant individual who people would see on stage.
She was always watching sports on TV, particularly football and basketball.
She always called Neilsen her "fat, younger sister." That was their ongoing joke. She was his older sister.
"Any time with her was a good time, filled with so many fun memories. Picking out just a few is so, so difficult," said Neilsen, who was alongside the Lady at the Park West and in San Antonio when she won major pageant titles. "Those were big highlights for me."
So who was Tajma at home?
"The Tajma Hall that you don't know is the low-key, laid-up, cuddled up in her sweatshirt, watching a football or basketball game. It's so opposite of what you'd see on stage—the crazy, boisterous, over-the-top woman. Off the stage, she didn't want to be the star, the center of attention," Neilsen said.
One of her favorite Chicago restaurants was Ping Pong in Lakeview, and it was Neilsen, Tajma and others who regularly ventured into Evanston for what they dubbed 'Todoroki Tuesday,' as that was their regular restaurant of choice.
Leflore said his dining with Tajma almost always involved chicken wings and/or sushi. In fact, two days before dying, when Tajma Hall was in the hospital and not supposed to eat anything, she asked Leflore to bring her sweet tea and chicken wings—and he did.
Tajma's sporting passion starts with the University of North Carolina, and Neilsen noted that she would watch any football or basketball game that was on TV. "She talked about her passion for sports every now and then, but of course most people didn't believe her about that [interest], based on her on-stage persona," he said.
Neilsen, commissioner for the Open Sunday Softball league of the Chicago Metropolitan Sports Association ( CMSA ), said Tajma did not play any CMSA sports.
"I can't speak highly enough about the number of people that she touched and what a void that has been left in my life by such an amazing individual," said Neilsen, who simply called her, Taj.
"On Sunday, the day after she passed away, someone told me something that I've held pretty close [while grieving]. I was told that the pain never truly goes away; we just learn to cope with it. That rings true for me."
Neilsen was at softball practice on that Saturday morning when he received the dreaded phone call to rush to Evanston Hospital.
No one was with Tajma when she passed, Neilsen said.
Tajma was single and would have celebrated her 45th birthday on July 30.
"My own personal tribute to Taj will be flourishing and being the individual that she wants me to be," Neilsen said. "The thing that I will carry forward with me is, her dedication to her craft and her determination that, when she set her mind to something, she made it happen."
The Chicago Celebration of Life service for Lady Tajma Hall will be on Saturday, May 31, from 2-5 p.m., at the Center on Halsted (3656 N. Halsted Street) in Lakeview.
