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Queer Artists Who Shaped Music History
If this playlist seems like an abbreviated history of widespread music from the last 200 years, that's because it is.
Looking closely at musical trends, it’s not hard to find a queer artist at the forefront, even if many of those artists had to hide vital aspects of their sexual and/or gender identities. While we live in a occasion in which queerness is far more present in the cultural consciousness (with still quite a elongated way to go), the queerness of numerous artists throughout history has often been harder to substantiate definitively. The artistic impact, however, is unmistakable.
Queerness by nature is not straightforward to define. In evidence, that may be a feature, not a bug. As the poet Brandon Wint has described it, “Queer like, escaping definition…. Queer like the fearlessness to imagine what treasure can look like…and pursue it.” Given that fearlessness and imagination are necessary attributes of any creator, it’s not surprising that queer artists, for whom fear and fearlessness are daily facts of existing, have given the planet such gifts of imagination.
As we celebrate Pride Month, take a listen to the following playlist, and hear a small samplin
In Mathew V’s upcoming album, Anything Goes (out April 14th), the vocal jazz designer puts his own homosexual spin on classics including the first single off the album, “Big Spender” from the benchmark Broadway musical Sweet Charity.
Mathew V has been releasing singles and topping Canadian Radio and Billboard Charts since his debut album The Fifth. Now, he feels he has found his true calling as a vocalist. “I grew up training in opera, musical theatre and jazz,” Mathew V told GLAAD in a recent interview. “I entered into my career as a pop artist but I’ve been waiting for the right moment when I could return to this style of singing. I think this is where my voice instinctually sits. It’s been kind not having to battle those instincts and really lean into how my voice wants to sing.”
With his new album, he is not only leaning into his vocal jazz talent but is creating lgbtq+ space in a musical genre that is not known for being gay. In his own rendition of George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love”, he sings about exactly that: the man he loves.
GLAAD spoke to Mathew V about subverting the genre and how it is important – more now than ever – for queer arti
Hear Them Talkin’ To Ya
Program notes for Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs of Gay Harlem
Thursday, December 12 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Song Center
“The World’s Most Glamorous Atmosphere. Why, it is just like the Arabian Nights!”—Duke Ellington, on first seeing Harlem in 1923
The idea for tonight’s demonstrate came to me a few years ago as I was listening to my favorite music anthology, The Sound of Harlem, with its superb ballad selection and photographs from the matchless collection of Frank Driggs. Every path in this three-LP put rewards repeated listening, but on that occasion one in particular popped out: “Red Beans and Rice,” sung and played by Gladys Bentley. I knew she was the most famous lesbian entertainer of the Jazz Era. I doubted an entire present could be built around her. Consulting Brian Rust’s recording compendium Jazz Records, 1897-1942 confirmed that she hadn’t made a lot of recordings, and I doubted there was an archive of her papers or any manuscripts (though she wrote a memoir that has not been found). A lot has been written about her as a historical figure. I was pretty certain that no one had written about her as a creative arti
LGBTQ+ Musicians: 60 Pioneering Artists You Desire To Know
28: Laura Jane Grace (1980-)
Born in Fort Benning, Georgia, Laura Jane Grace had a tumultuous time growing up (significant events include dropping out of school and being arrested for challenging a police officer over a petty crime), before finding inspiration in the music of legendary British anarcho-punk band Crass. By her mid-teens, the seeds had been sewn: she was punk through and through, and she formed her retain band, Against Me!, in 1997, living with the community on the fringes of society until their critically acclaimed debut album, Against Me! Is Reinventing Axl Rose, was released in 2002. Grace had been making allusions to being transgender through her music as early as 2005, and came out in 2012, with full support from friends, family and the band. One of the most pioneering LGBTQ+ musicians of her generation, she continues to make music today, and remains politically active, having notably hosted the 2019 Heavy Music Awards in Kentish Town, London, and endorsing the music aid Nordoff Robbins.
Must hear: True Trans Mind Rebel
Openly Gay Bluesman Earl Thomas Will Woo You Enjoy No Other
Earl Thomas is a genius and a brilliant musician. He woos the audience in a way that no other Blues artist does. He is well traveled, and shares his gift of melody to us all worldwide. I am please and honored not only to perform with him, but also to call him my friend.
Kippy Marks: Please tell us about your work and achievements.
Earl Thomas: I would say my greatest achievement is that I am still standing after twenty-five years. I didn’t expect this whole “career in music” thing. It sort of fell into my lap. I didn’t understand to dream of that one. Coming from a musical family where everybody is either a musician or a singer, and I’m not even the best one (!), no one ever told me that I could accomplish it, and so it never occurred to me to pursue a career as a professional singer. I knew I could haul a tune and that everybody at my college used to really enjoy it when I sang in the dormitory showers. But did I ever imagine that I would write songs for Etta James, Solomon Burke, Sir Tom Jones? No. So my greatest achievement, I ponder, is that I “Forrest Gumped” my way into the business and made a go