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Britney Spears impersonator taking shot on ‘Drag Race’

Next stop for Derrick Barry‘s Britney Spears: the catfight competition for the title of “America’s next drag superstar.”

A Las Vegas attraction since 2004, Barry will be among 12 contestants when the eighth season of RuPaul‘s hit reality series “Drag Race” debuts March 7 with a 90-minute episode.

Barry’s journey began when he dressed up as Spears, his idol, for Halloween 2003 and wowed the crowd on Santa Monica Boulevard. He had Britney down to a T.

“People wouldn’t stop taking pictures,” Barry said.

After four years of refining her act in “A Night at the La Cage” at the Riviera and another six in Frank Marino‘s “Divas Las Vegas,” Barry became a road show sensation in the past year.

He decided to audition last year after working with so many top-tier drag queens while touring.

“It became another ‘now or never’ moment,” said Barry, who grew up in Modesto, California.

He will be competing for the $100,000 cash prize and the ultimate career boost in his profession.

Enduring all the gay slurs and “every other name” just made him all the more determined to pursue his dream. No way he was going to turn away from theater, Barry said, “because that was my sanctuary.”

Two weeks after the Halloween outing, Spears was on the “Tonight Show,” and Barry was in the audience dressed as the pop queen.

“The first time she looked out at me during commercial break, oh my gawd, she just stared at me,” he recalled.

Barry points to two big breaks in his climb to stardom.

“The first drag queen I met was Chad Michaels,” a legendary Cher doppelganger. Michaels was working in a North Hollywood gay club. “I was dressed as Britney for just the second time. He’s been my mentor and idol from the beginning.”

Getting on “America’s Got Talent” in 2008 and making the top 40 was huge.

“That show opened every single door,” he said. “Instead of being a name on the Las Vegas Strip, I was booking shows in other cities and countries.”

Last September in Chicago, he was in the crowd for a Madonna show when she brought him up on stage.

“She asked me what my name was,” Barry said.

“Derrick Barry,” he said.

“She said, ‘No, you are Britney.'”

Holmes update

Entertainer Clint Holmes, who drew a record-breaking crowd to the Italian American Club on Thursday, shared some news.

He said a reunion concert is in the works with Santa Fe and The Fat City Horns, the band that backed him for nearly seven years during his headliner residency at Harrah’s.

According to founder and host Nelson Sardelli, nearly 200 packed the IAC’s ballroom for the monthly event known as F.I.O.R.E (Fun Italians Organizing Ridiculous Events).

Holmes delivered a heartfelt speech about his music beginnings and the societal challenges as the son of a British opera singer and an American jazz singer.

He talked about the support he received, including the teacher who gave him his first musical instrument, a trombone.

And Holmes had an update on Christopher Jackson, who played the lead in “Comfortable Shoes,” the life story of Holmes’ career. While “Shoes” didn’t survive, Jackson’s career is soaring, and he has a role as George Washington in “Hamilton,” Broadway’s hip-hop musical sensation.

The scene and heard

A party will be thrown Saturday in honor of Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall at Chateau nightclub at Paris Las Vegas. Marshall, a Cimarron-Memorial High School graduate (2007) who played at UNR, was the leading tackler during the regular season for the Super Bowl champion Broncos. Marshall credits quarterback Peyton Manning for noticing him and helping him get promoted from the practice squad for the last game of the 2013 regular season.

On this day

Feb. 12, 1977: “Blansky’s Beauties,” a “Happy Days” spinoff starring Nancy Walker as den mother to a bevy of Vegas showgirls, debuts on ABC. Reviews are unkind, and the show is canceled after 13 episodes. Feb. 13, 2011: Jeff Ondash, a 51-year-old Ohioan, doles out 7,777 hugs in 24 hours outside the Paris Las Vegas to set a world record. Dubbing himself Teddy McHuggin, Ondash stages his hugathon to raise money for the American Heart Association.

Sightings

Planet Hollywood headliner Jennifer Lopez, dining with her crew at Carmine’s in the Forum Shops at Caesars on Tuesday. The party moved to Omnia nightclub. They were celebrating Lopez’s first run of her show “All I Have.” …Former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis, at Marquee nightclub at The Cosmopolitan on Monday.

The punch line

“Not only was today the New Hampshire primary, it was also National Pizza Day. So, one way or the other, Chris Christie will be giving a victory speech.” — Jimmy Fallon

— Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. On Twitter: @Norm_Clarke

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