MISS CLEO

(Known by her nickname Miss Cleo (August 12, 1962 – July 26, 2016), Youree Dell Harris was a TV personality, actress, and queer activist. From 1997 to 2003, she portrayed a psychic reader for a pay-per-call service called Psychic Readers Network.

Youree Cleomili, Youree Perris, Rae Dell Harris, Cleomili Perris Youree, and Cleomili Harris were some of the aliases she used. She was born in Los Angeles County Hospital to Alisa Teresa Hopis and David Harris. As a boarding student, she attended Ramona Convent Secondary School (a Catholic girls’ school in Alhambra, California) as a Catholic Afro-Caribbean family.

In 1996, Harris, as “Ree Perris,” wrote a play entitled For Women Only, playing a Jamaican woman named “Cleo” in Seattle. Under the stage name “Ree Perris,” she produced and performed two plays with the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center in Seattle. After moving to Florida, Harris met Steven Feder and Peter Stotz (the founders of the Psychic Readers Network), and started taking calls as reader No. 16153. Before that, she used her Caribbean accent and worked as a psychic for a telemarketing company. During this time, she was approached by Suzanne Bech-Hansen and Donna Lee Williams, the main managers of Psychic Readers Network, and became the star of Psychic Readers Network on LRP Network.

There were accusations of deceptive advertising and fraud on the part of the Psychic Readers Network around this time after Harris’ stage name, “Miss Cleo,” was used to send unsolicited emails to her. There were complaints that Miss Cleo’s “associates” answered calls from scripts and charged for calls advertised as “free.”

In 2002, the Federal Trade Commission charged the company’s owners and Harris’ promoters with deceptive advertising, billing, and collection practices. Harris was not indicted. His successor dropped the charges. However, the damage had already been done.

As far as her personal life, Harris married at age 19, gave birth to a daughter, and divorced at age 21. She had a second daughter while in her late 20s. In 2006, she came out as a lesbian inspired by her Godson, Matt Rucker and became a dedicated advocate to the LGBTQ+ Community by participating in Pride Marches and other community initiatives.

Harris developed colorectal cancer and died under hospice care in Palm Beach, Florida, on July 26, 2016, at the age of 53. In December 2022, HBO Max released a feature documentary about Harris’ life titled Call Me Miss Cleo, which features various testimonies from her former partners, family, godsons, close friends, and noted celebrities such as Raven-Symone (That’s So Raven) and Debra Wilson (MadTV). The documentary tries to decipher whether the woman was a gifted “voodoo priestess” who could converse with the other side and what life was like for her after the scandal.

SEE THE FULL BIO AT DAVIDATLANTA.COM