Cidny Bullens was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Massachusetts and Maine. His family was middle class and conservative. As a young musician and “a boy in a girl’s body” gravitating to the rebellious spirit of the Sixties, Cidny always felt like the black sheep. He ran away from home at age 15 to New York City but was caught and returned home by his mother and the police 10 days later.
As Cidny graduated and finally moved out to NYC, he came across a book about gender in 1971, which explained the term “transsexual.” Cidny wrote to Tulane University, who published the book, and received back an envelope with information about transgender medical services. Cidny, though excited, knew that with no resources both financial and personal, transitioning was inaccessible, so he poured himself into music.
Since first picking up a guitar at 11, Cidny knew he belonged onstage. At age 23, he moved to Los Angeles to get closer to the music industry. While living on a mutual friend’s couch and working at a gas station, Cidny accidentally crashed music producer Bob Crewe’s dinner party. Bob quickly took Cidny under his wing. Cidny moved in with Bob to become a live-in personal assistant, sang backup for his productions, and learned the ins and outs of the music industry.
Cidny’s music career took off. He toured with Elton John three times, sang lead vocals for the Grease movie soundtrack in 1977, and released his first album Desire Wire where his single “Survivor” was nominated for a Grammy in 1979. He feels his musical legacy is his award-winnng fourth album 1999’s “Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth,” which he wrote while grieving the death of his 11 year old daughter, Jessie, from cancer. The album has been revered by countless grieving people, reaching every continent around the world.
After living and writing in Nashville for several years, he moved back to Maine in 2006. Out of the blue, a young friend he used to mentor called him in July, 2011, and told him that he was living as a transgender man. Cidny was overcome with emotion and after the phone call fell to his knees sobbing–grieving “all of what could have been.” After much thought, Cidny started quietly transitioning in September, 2011 and came out to the press publicly in June 2012.
In 2014, Cidny started writing a one person show to share his life story. Since 2016, Cidny has toured his award-winning show Somewhere Between – Not an Ordinary Life around the country. His story has also been featured in the documentaries Invisible and award-winning short, The Gender Line.
Cidny’s memoir TransElectric: My Life as a Cosmic Rock Star (with foreword by Sir Elton John) was published in June, 2023 by Chicago Review Press to rave reviews. Among the many endorsements of the book, Billie Jean King wrote: “[Cid] shines a light on a subject that for far too long many pushed down, few discussed, and yet he found a way to his truth.”
In October of 2023, Little Pieces, his first album as Cidny was released on the venerable Kill Rock Stars record label.
Currently, Cid is starring, alongside Dani Shay, in a new musical production The Civility of Albert Cashier, the true story of a transman war hero who fought in the Civil War. The show debuts in Los Angeles in September 2024.
Cidny continues to advocate for sharing trans and queer stories like his own, determined to pave a path for the younger generations to have the tools to live as their true selves.