Another Hollywood Celeb is Coming Out of the Closet...

[Boomer]

Chely who? She sounds like a one hit wonder who is trying to jump start a limp career. I was hoping that it would be someone who would really make an impact. Not that coming out in the world of country isn't a big deal, and certainly it takes courage. This just is not worth all of the hype. If in fact it is her. (Although I contradict my own words simply by posting about her : -)

[+ friendofsheila]

[Oops. Somebody already posted a link to Chely.]

[edjames]

Sounds to me like someone in the media was about to blow the whistle on Chely , so she and her publicist have decided to come forward and avoid an "Enquirer" type headline and avoid a media circus.

 

Whether or not this helps or hinders her career remains to be seen. Given some of the "Who is she?" responses on this threat, I'd say she had nothing to lose and revved up her recognition factor a few points.

 

Still, in the end, it's kind of a ho-hum moment.

 

 

ED

[operalover21]

Yeah, me too. Like Kenny Chesney for example.

 

All I could think of to say was .... Wake me up when it's someone I've heard of.

 

I've always secretly hoped that Brad Paisley was gay. Two words: YUM ME.

[operalover21]

Chely who? She sounds like a one hit wonder who is trying to jump start a limp career. I was hoping that it would be someone who would really make an impact. Not that coming out in the world of country isn't a big deal, and certainly it takes courage. This just is not worth all of the hype. If in fact it is her. (Although I contradict my own words simply by posting about her : -)

 

Sort of like Meredith Baxter whose Lifetime Movie career was over so she writes a book saying "I'm a Lesbian." Yawn.

[+ Charlie]

When hardly anyone on a gay chat site has ever heard of a popular entertainment "celebrity," that career needs any boost it can get.

[Boomer]

kd Lang must be saying "WTF?"

[Guest]

Let me guess that's it's not Tom Cruise...

[JackTwist]

Chely Wright Exposes Bigotry in Country Music...

 

Regardless of whether we've ever heard of Chely Wright, at least her "coming out" today is prompting a serious conversation about the rabid homophobia in country music and among its fan base.

 

From May 5 article in "The Examiner":

 

When country singer Chely Wright decided to acknowledge that she is gay, she brought another country music star out of the closet with her, not as gay, but as a bigot. John Rich from the band Big and Rich had a conversation with Wright that seems to show bigotry towards the gay community.

 

Chely Wright, 39, was once a sweetheart of the country music world, earning awards and recognition from the country music industry. During the height of her popularity, with hit songs on the radio, rumors began to spread that she was gay. During that time, John Rich reached out to her to tell her about the rumors and ask if they were true.

 

Rich asked Wright, “You’re not gay are you? If you are, people won’t have it!” Wright acknowledges that it was the first time she lied out loud to another person about her sexuality. She told John Rich that she was not gay, and his response to Chely Wright was less than accepting of his gay fans or gay people in general. John Rich told her, “You gotta hit this gay thing [rumor] head on…it’s sick, it’s deviant, it’s unacceptable to country music fans.” John Rich is known as a conservative, even more so than most country music stars.

 

Chely Wright acknowledges that country music fans think of country music as being about “God and country and family” and said, “For some reason people don’t think that that can co-exist with being a homosexual.” Wright said that since the time she was a kid, she had prayed that she would not be gay and that living a lie led her to almost committing suicide. She told the Today Show that when she instead prayed for a “moment’s peace”, she “got the understanding” and knew that God expected only one thing from her and that was to tell the truth. She says that now that she has come out and acknowledged her truth, she finally has her moment of peace.

[Pegasus]

Unfortunately, many (but not all) country music fans are close-minded, homophobic and very unforgiving. They will most likely shun her like they did The Dixie Chicks. Country music wishes it were 1950 again.

[JackTwist]

Technically, kd lang (good singer, great voice) was in country & western music in the 80's but never really hit it big in that genre. Most of her success was achieved after her crossover to pop in the early 90's. It was only after switching genres that she officially "came out of the closet" in The Advocate.

[Boomer]

Technically, kd lang (good singer, great voice) was in country & western music in the 80's but never really hit it big in that genre. Most of her success was achieved after her crossover to pop in the early 90's. It was only after switching genres that she officially "came out of the closet" in The Advocate.

 

I would argue that kd Lange had a pretty substantial career in country. Lang first came to the attention of U.S. audiences when she toured with Roy Orbison as a backup singer. Her career received a huge boost when Orbison chose her to record a duet of his standard, "Crying," a collaboration that won them the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1989. The song was first used in the Jon Cryer film Hiding Out released in 1987.

 

1988 marked the release of Shadowland, an album of torch country produced by Owen Bradley. That year she also performed "Turn Me Round" at the closing ceremonies of the XV Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, and sang background vocals with Jennifer Warnes and Bonnie Raitt for Orbison's acclaimed television special, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night.

[JackTwist]

Good Point, Boomer.

 

Boomer, I suppose one could debate whether kd's country (pre-pop) career truly merits the definitions of "substantial" or "hitting it big." Thanks for pointing that out.

 

The point is that kd Lang did not officially and publicly announce that she is gay via The Advocate until AFTER she had moved beyond country---crossing-over to the adult contemporary/pop genre in the early 90's. She came out AFTER recording her first Platinum-selling album "Ingenue"; AFTER recording her all-time biggest hit "Constant Craving"; and in the same year (1992) she received the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

 

Chely Wright has always recorded country music and is coming out as a country artist. There is a difference. Kd was widely recognized and lauded as a pop performer by the time she came out.

[J-Man]

Washed-up publicity *****

 

What if someone came out and nobody cared?