Lucian Piane, music producer behind early RuPaul's Drag Race, dies at 46
Lucian Piane, the music producer who shaped the sound of the first eight seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, has died aged 46.
Variety reported on 13 October that Los Angeles County Medical Examiner records list his death as Monday, after he was reportedly struck by a car in Glendale, California. He was hit early on Monday morning, according to TMZ, which also reported that he had no ID on him at the time.
He was 46. Piane was born on 4 October in Kansas City, Missouri, nine days before the news of his death was reported.
Piane worked on the main RuPaul's Drag Race series from Seasons 1 to 8. During that run he composed the show's music and its Rusical numbers, the musical-theatre parody challenges where queens act and sing live in a staged spoof.
He also worked on Drag Race: All Stars, the spin-off series that brings back past contestants to compete again. His run covered the period when the programme moved from a late-night cable slot to a wider audience in the United States.
In collaboration with RuPaul, Piane wrote songs including "Cover Girl," "Sissy That Walk," "Jealous of My Boogie," "Born Naked," "Champion" and "Main Event." Those tracks were released as singles and performed as lip-sync numbers and entrances on the show.
Outside Drag Race, Piane earned a Grammy nomination for his work on the soundtrack to the 2007 Hairspray film. That credit placed him among the music staff behind one of the decade's best-known movie musicals.
For fans, this means the music from the show's early years — the entrance songs, the finales and the Rusicals — carries his writing. No further details about funeral arrangements have been reported.
