[1] After his father died, he moved to New Orleans with his mother, and became fascinated by the local female impersonators.
He gave himself the name Vidalia for the type of onion, which according to Cosimo Matassa was also used as a slang term for a man who used prostitutes,[2] and worked with others as one of the Valdalia Sisters.
In 1947 he started working at the Dew Drop Inn, the center of the city's black musical scene, at the request of its owner Frank Painia.
There, he became the club's resident MC, singer and bartender, and hosted the annual Halloween Gay Ball.
[4] His theme song was "Hip Shakin' Mama", first recorded by Chubby Newsom.