She is unequivocally the Queen of Pop. She has more hits that most people can count, and she has remained relevant for 4 decades. She is an icon.
Today with a nod to Madonna Monday's at Paradise Motel, I choose Madonna's "Dress You Up" as my, go on, get that bad thing, shake it all away, song for a, break the bank, scale the wall, take every bit of love you can find, Monday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
She's been vocal about being attracted to both genders, and other than that she's pretty tight lipped about her personal life. I can certainly respect that. She's also been a staunch supporter of LGBTQI rights and often cites her Gay Grandfather as a source of inspiration. I don't care where she labels herself, but she's on the spectrum and I'm proud of her.
Demetria Devonne Lovato is an American singer, songwriter and actress. After appearing on the children's television series Barney & Friends as a child, she received her breakthrough role as Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).
Since signing with Hollywood Records, Lovato released her first studio album Don't Forget (2008) and was followed by five more albums: Here We Go Again (2009), Unbroken (2011), Demi (2013), Confident (2015) and Tell Me You Love Me (2017). Lovato earned seven top-twenty entries on the US Billboard Hot 100: "This Is Me", "Here We Go Again", "Skyscraper", "Give Your Heart a Break", "Heart Attack", "Cool for the Summer", and "Sorry Not Sorry". Of her television credits, Lovato starred as the titular character on Sonny with a Chance from 2009 to 2011; was featured as a judge and mentor on the American version of The X Factor in 2012 and 2013; and appeared as a recurring character on Glee. Her struggles with bipolar disorder, addiction, an eating disorder, and self-harm received significant media attention in the 2010s, in response to which she released the book Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year (2013) and a YouTube documentary about her life and career, titled Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated (2017).
Musically, Lovato is considered a pop, pop rock, and R&B artist. Lovato has received a number of accolades, including an MTV Video Music Award, 13 Teen Choice Awards, five People's Choice Awards, an ALMA Award, and a Latin American Music Award. Outside the entertainment industry, Lovato has been involved with several social and environmental causes since the launch of her career.
Lovato is an active supporter of gay rights. When the Defense of Marriage Act was struck down in June 2013, she tweeted: "Gay, straight, lesbian, bi. ... No one is better than any one else. What an incredible day for California AND for equality." Lovato later said: "I believe in gay marriage, I believe in equality. I think there's a lot of hypocrisy with religion. But I just found that you can have your own relationship with God, and I still have a lot of faith." In May 2013, she was cited for her dedication as a mentor to teens and young adults with mental health challenges at a National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day in Washington, D.C.. She has also become an advocate for the LGBT community. In 2014, she became the face for the Human Rights Campaign's Americans for Marriage Equality Campaign. In April 2016, Lovato was honored with the GLAAD Vanguard Awardfor her activism.
So today, with a full throated cry, I choose Demi Lovato's "Tell Me You Love Me" as my, break the rules, skip the labels, jump the ropes, song for a, find your own voice, ignore the irrelevant, remember the beauty you possess, Friday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
He was the first out gay artist I knew and loved. He has a razor voice and a delicate musical sensibility. He will always have a place in my heart.
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is an American-Canadian singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded seven albums of original music and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written a classical opera and set Shakespeare sonnets to music for a theater piece by Robert Wilson.
Wainwright's self-titled debut album was released through DreamWorks Records in May 1998. His second album, Poses, was released in June 2001. Wainwright's third and fourth studio albums, Want One (2003) and Want Two (2004), were repackaged as the double album Want in 2005. In 2007, Wainwright released his fifth studio album Release the Stars and his first live album Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall. His second live album Milwaukee at Last!!! was released in 2009, followed by the studio albums All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (2010) and Out of the Game (2012). The double album Prima Donna (2015), was a recording of his opera of the same name. His ninth studio album Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets (2016), featured nine adaptions of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Wainwright is the son of musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and the older brother of singer Martha Wainwright. He married Jörn Weisbrodt in 2012. Their daughter was conceived by Wainwright and Lorca Cohen, daughter of Leonard Cohen, in 2011.
So today, with vices in check and hearts ripe for bruising, I choose Rufus Wainwright's "Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk" as my, be like me, in your own heart, walk on the wild side, song for a, dare to be different, look to the stars, hope for the hopeless, Thursday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
She was the first out bonafide country music star. She created huge waves in the industry, and her fearless leap into a genre of music that very quickly could have shunned her, still resonates with many artists.
In the early to mid 90's she was a country music darling, a star of the Grand Ol Opry, and she was on every country radio station. It took immense strength and courage but she was also the first person to buck that system.
On the strength of her debut album in 1994, the Academy of Country Music (ACM) named her Top New Female Vocalist in 1995. Wright's first Top 40 country hit came in 1997 with "Shut Up and Drive". Two years later, her fourth album yielded a number one single, the title track, "Single White Female". Overall, Wright has released seven studio albums on various labels, and has charted more than fifteen singles on the country charts. As of May 2010, Wright's previous eight albums and 19 singles released had sold over 1,500,000 copies in the United States. In May 2010, Wright became one of the first major country music performers to publicly come out as lesbian. In television appearances and an autobiography, she cited among her reasons for publicizing her homosexuality a concern with bullying and hate crimes toward gays, particularly gay teenagers, and the damage to her life caused by "lying and hiding".
She has written songs that have been recorded by Brad Paisley, Richard Marx, Indigo Girls, Mindy Smith and Clay Walker, among them Walker's top ten hit, "I Can't Sleep" that won her a BMI award. On May 4, 2010, Wright simultaneously released her memoir, Like Me, and her first album of new songs since 2005, Lifted Off the Ground.
Wright's eighth album, I Am the Rain, was released on September 9, 2016, by MRI/Sony and was produced by Joe Henry. It entered the Billboard country chart at 13, the second highest debut of her career. It was also her first appearance on the Americana album chart, where it reached number 9.
So, today, with bravery and hope bundled tightly together I choose Chely Wright's "Damn Liar" as my, get it together, back to the middle, find your truth, song for a, listen to the melody inside, hide nothing, give all you can, Wednesday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
Claudius Afolabi "Labi" Siffre (born 25 June 1945) is a British singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Siffre released six albums between 1970 and 1975, and four between 1988 and 1998. He has published essays, the stage and TV play Deathwrite and three volumes of poetry: Nigger, Blood On The Page and Monument.
Siffre played jazz guitar at Annie Ross's jazz club in Soho in the 1960s as part of a Hammond organ, guitar, drums house band.
He released six albums between 1970 and 1975. In the 1970s he released 16 singles,[citation needed] three of which became hits: "It Must Be Love" (No. 14, 1971) (later covered by and a No. 4 hit for Madness, for which Siffre himself appeared in the video); "Crying Laughing Loving Lying" (No. 11, 1972); and "Watch Me" (No. 29, 1972). In 1978, Siffre took part in the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest. He performed his own composition "Solid Love", which placed fifth of the twelve songs up for consideration at the A Song for Europe contest. Additionally, he co-wrote the song "We Got It Bad" performed by Bob James, which came tenth.
Siffre came out of self-imposed retirement from music in 1985, when he saw a television film from Apartheid South Africa showing a white soldier shooting at black children. He wrote "(Something Inside) So Strong" (No. 4, 1987) and released four more albums between 1988 and 1998.
The 1975 track "I Got The..." was released as a single in 2006, and was sampled in the Eminem track "My Name Is" in 1999. Which is ironic to think years later with all the controversy around Eminem and Homophobia.
Siffre met Peter John Carver Lloyd in July 1964. They remained together until Lloyd's death in 2013, having entered a civil partnership in 2005, as soon as this was possible in the UK. In 2014 Siffre appeared on the BBC Radio 4 series Great Lives, championing the life of British author Arthur Ransome. Siffre said that the Swallows and Amazons books had taught him responsibility for his own actions and also a morality that has influenced and shaped him throughout his life.
So, today with a little love and look to the future, I choose Labi Siffre's "I Got The.." as my, get it gurl, go on with your bad self, be just exactly who you are, song for a, tell me again, side eye smile, back off buster, Tuesday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
These are two incredible queer artists that I love. I've written about them both a few times before, but still love this song and video. There's something raw and beautiful about John Grant's hypnotic voice, and the way that Andy Butler creates the space for him to play in mesmerizing.
Hercules & Love Affair is a dance music project created by American DJ Andy Butler in 2004. Consisting of a rotating cast of performers and musicians, the band work within the genres of house music, disco, techno and nu-disco.
Originally based in New York City, now based in Ghent, Belgium, Hercules and Love Affair were founded following Butler's collaboration with Anohni to produce the song "Blind", which was a hit single. Initially signing to DFA Records, for their eponymous 2008 debut album, the band went on to record two more albums for Moshi Moshi, Blue Songs (2011) and The Feast of the Broken Heart (2014). Their fourth album Omnion was released in September 2017 by Atlantic Records.
Andrew Butler was born and raised in Denver, Colorado, and has described growing up in "a violent household without any role models". He developed an early love for Greek mythology, which later inspired him to name his band after the mythological hero of Hercules. Interested in music, he played the piano, and began composing classical pieces from the age of thirteen. Butler's interest switched to focus on dance music after buying a record by the band Yazoo. He went on to give his first DJ set aged fifteen, in a Denver leather bar run by a hostess called Chocolate Thunder Pussy; on that occasion, the club was raided by police, leading him to hide from them in the toilets. As he later related: "I started DJing because I needed to get out of the house. I was, like, 'Take me to the club or there's going to be a really ugly situation at home today!' I found a lot of freedom in the nightclub to express myself and not be judged as harshly as I was at home. I am a gay man and I grew up with a certain struggle and because of that, I have a story to tell."
The new Hercules cast is impeccable. John Grant was first into the fold and unearthed a new way for Andy to record. His sexy tomcat voice and lyrical ability for translating hardship into elegance lent themselves greatly to the new album and the collaboration ʻI Try To Talk To Youʼ is an album highlight, future single and uniquely Hercules.
It’s been an extraordinary journey for John Grant, from a point where he thought he would never make music again or escape a life of substance abuse to winning awards and accolades, collaborating with Sinead O’Connor, Rumer and Hercules & Love Affair and having his music featured in the award-winning film Weekend.
It’s a journey that’s taken him from Buchanan, Michigan to Parker, Colorado, studying languages in Germany and, after his band The Czars split up, basing himself in New York, London, Berlin and, most recently, Iceland, where the bulk of Pale Green Ghosts was recorded. It’s also been a journey from The Czars’ folk/country noir to the lush ‘70s FM alchemy of Queen Of Denmark to the astonishing fusion of sounds that lifts Pale Green Ghosts.
Clearly John Grant was a perfect fit for Hercules and Love Affair’s new venture. After finishing the last Hercules tour, in support of second album ‘Blue Songs’, Andy decamped to Vienna because “it was quite clear that this was a fundamentally European operation.” He found a tremendous old analogue studio in the city and began sketching his ideas down on tape. “I wanted ten minute tirades of 909s, nasty bass-lines, stormy, bleary-eyed sounds, fiery, rough, tough and ragged old school house productions that sounded almost techno. I didn’t want polite, I wanted aggressive.”
Techno and Electro specialists and classic house devotees appeared through mutual friends in Vienna in the form of Haze Factory. They had already served up a great remix of Butler and Shaun J Wright's "Forever More". The rough collision of techno and house had already convinced Andy to take them on for the new Hercules album. Industrial stalwart Mark Pistel, also joined in on production duties, as a perfect compliment with a noise based, sample oriented take on swinging 909 drums.
This aesthetic coupled with substantial tales of emotional triumph makes for something that does not happen in dance music very much anymore. Put actual songwriting into the mix, and you have the goal of Hercules 3.0: meaningful house music that IS pop music and can speak to the most musically adept of tastes. More now than ever it is about delivering something deeper to the hedonistic precept of Hercules & Love Affair. “I am fascinated by belief,” Andy says, “Maybe the nightclub isn’t just decadent and meaningless.” His words resonate and dare you to pay attention to the music that is being made.
So today I choose Hercules & Love Affair (ft. John Grant)’s “I Try To Talk To You”, (with an AMAZING video with Choreo by Ryan Heffington & staring Danny Dolan), as my Let me help me, please can be the strongest word, some days you just have to do it for yourself, song for a jump a little higher, remember the movement, roll through and find the fluidity Monday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
They are iconic, inspirational, and lasting. Their music spans the test of time, and always inspires more from the listener. They were out before it was cool, and because of that they've stayed in with me. Always.
The Indigo Girls are a Grammy Award–winning folk rock music American duo consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. They started performing with the name Indigo Girls as students at Emory University, performing weekly at The Dugout, a bar in Emory Village.
They released a self-produced, full-length record album in 1987 and contracted with a major record company in 1988. After releasing nine albums with major record labels from 1987 through 2007, they have now resumed self-producing albums with their own IG Recordings company.
Outside of working on Indigo Girls–related projects, Ray has released solo albums and founded a non profit organization that promotes independent musicians, while Saliers is an entrepreneur in the restaurant industry as well as a professional author; she also collaborates with her father, Don Saliers, in performing for special groups and causes. Both Saliers and Ray identify as lesbian and are active in political and environmental causes.
So today, with questions unanswered, I choose the Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine" as my, I'm trying to tell you about my life, help me see the other side, lift me from my own self centered miasma, song for, let the fear be released, let go the hunger of the darkness, look to the light in your eyes, Friday.
In support of National Pride Month, for the entire month of June I will only post artists who Identify as somewhere on the LGBTQI Spectrum. We are loud, we are proud, and we deserve to be heard.
Her talent is undeniable. She shook the music world as a front woman, and continues to shape it with hit after hit for other artists. The way she writes has a way of twining right around your heart and attaching itself to your soul. She's a legend in her own time, who is constantly helping others achieve their own greatness. We should all be so lucky.
Linda Perry is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. She first became known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes and has since founded two record labels and composed and produced hit songs for several other artists. They include: "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera; "What You Waiting For?" by Gwen Stefani; and "Get the Party Started" by P!nk. Perry has also contributed to albums by Adele, Alicia Keys, and Courtney Love, as well as signing and distributing James Blunt in the United States. Perry was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Perry is openly lesbian. She famously displayed the slang word "dyke" on her guitar for a performance with 4 Non Blondes at the 1994 Billboard Music Awards.
So today, with joy in my heart, I choose Linda Perry's (4 Non Blondes) "What's Up?" as my, take a deep breath, shift into the light, take a leap, song for a, when no others can, when no one will, when everyone is telling you not to, Thursday.