Report: Country Music Star Set To Come Out
Chely Wright will reportedly make the announcement in People magazine later this week.
TMZ reports:
Wright has a book coming out this week as well -- it's called, "Like Me." And she has a CD coming out too -- called "Lifted Off the Ground."
The 39-year-old singer scored a #1 country song back in 1999 with "Single White Female," when she was named Academy of Country Music new artist of the year.
Wright is the first major country artist ever to come out. She has been romantically linked to a number of celebs, including Brad Paisley.This is a big deal in the country world. Chely is rolling the dice on her career ... it's unclear how traditionally-conservative country fans will react.
Interesting ... she lists Howard Bragman as her publicist, who was the mastermind behind the Chaz Bono story.
Watch the music video for Wright's biggest hit, "Single White Female," AFTER THE JUMP.
Wright is not the first "major country music star" to come out. KD Lang came out in 1992, appearing on the cover of the Advocate, I believe. It seems like nobody can remember anything that happened more than a couple years ago. If people realized how long it has been since we've been fighting for our civil rights and yet we're still treating coming out as a novelty, maybe they'd be a little bit more pissed at the pace of our struggle.
Posted by: gaylib | May 2, 2010 2:34:14 PM
Not that I go around tracking them - but isn't K.D. Lang a bit of a lesbian? Did she not come out of the country genre (I know she really isn't now) having producer Owen Bradley, Jr. (who produced Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn among others) and singing at the Grand Old Opry? Not to mention, didn't Ty Herdon get arresting for trying to stick his dick in an undercover cops mouth in Dallas when he was doing a concert there? I wouldn't imagine you could get much more "out" then that as a country singer. You notice he hasn't had a hit record since then, hmm?
Posted by: TyInTenn | May 2, 2010 2:37:01 PM
rats...I figured if it was a country singer, it would be Randy Travis
Posted by: bozemanmontana | May 2, 2010 2:51:58 PM
....the first "lipstick lesbian" to come out you mean....since she appears to be what would be attractive to straight men and, let's be honest, K.D. doesn't have that problem to deal with....
Posted by: yeahisaidit | May 2, 2010 3:02:00 PM
Who?
Posted by: JeffNYC | May 2, 2010 3:03:42 PM
Lang and Herndon are two entirely different stories. Lang simply drifted from country into other genres. Actually, Ty Herndon had his biggest success after his "incident" in Fort Worth, TX with "Living in a Moment." Herndon (an awesome voice) has had too many lapses into drugs and alcohol and country is all about a quote from the great Patsy Cline herself: "If you go away, they (the audience) forget about you." These days a healthy and sober Ty plays a lot of small venues and has a new "Christian" CD about to drop. He is VERY active in several children's charities.
Posted by: Piper | May 2, 2010 3:10:41 PM
Good for her, whoever she is.
Posted by: The Milkman | May 2, 2010 3:22:38 PM
Wait, so this was the "big coming out" scheduled for May 5 (from a news item posted here a week or so ago)?? Dayum, I have no idea who this chick is, but it surely didn't bowl me over.
My first question, too, was, "Who?" If she wasn't (nationally) famous before, the country's collectively gonna let out a yawn come May 5.
What a major anti-climax. But on the other hand, I hope Ms. Wright's coming-out will help change minds about the LGBT community down in the South -- for the better. And hopefully, Ms. Wright will wield her "new found fame" to further our community's cause -- and not try to sell a few CDs and books and then vanish into oblivion.
Posted by: Hubert | May 2, 2010 3:24:26 PM
What a *horrible* song.
Posted by: peterparker | May 2, 2010 4:03:31 PM
So when's Kenny Chesney coming out?
Posted by: David Ehrenstein | May 2, 2010 4:06:56 PM
The TMZ quote actually gets it right, as kd lang was never a major country star. Chely has gotten into the Top 40 six times, including the #1 mentioned above. kd only got into the Top 40 twice at #21 and #22.
Chely's music veers more toward Mary Chapin Carpenter than Shania Twain, and I was already looking forward to her album coming out this week. Hopefully this brings her some well-deserved attention, along with an opportunity to open some minds in the country music business.
Posted by: John | May 2, 2010 4:07:56 PM
A big deal in the country world? Isn't that like being the skinniest girl at fat camp?
Posted by: Please | May 2, 2010 4:15:33 PM
Every person who comes out gains a personal victory, and advances the cause for us all. She will be one more person who is visible and identifiable as LGBT. Good for her! Enough disparaging remarks because she isn't "big" enough. Her story is as important as anyone's.
Posted by: Tone | May 2, 2010 4:20:43 PM
I am a longtime Chely Wright fan. Love her music. Single White Female was her biggest radio hit but she has a lot of deeper, more introspective stuff which I prefer. Good for her for coming out. As a native Nashvillian, I know how hard the country industry can be (despite so many gay people working in it). Looking forward to her new music.
Posted by: Roger | May 2, 2010 4:39:45 PM
My money, in the female country singer world, would have been on Mary Chapin-Carpenter or Terri Clark being lesbians. Wouldn't have guessed Chely Wright.
I stopped being a country fan in the mid-90s, but this is still surprising for me.
Posted by: JAS | May 2, 2010 4:43:16 PM
I had never heard this song before but it was OK. Too bad the lyrics weren't "Looking for someone like you." instead of "Looking for a MAN like you." Of course she might have considered herself straight 11 years ago.
Posted by: Charlie | May 2, 2010 5:12:02 PM
If this is the big coming out of a celebrity...what a disappointment. Can't stand country.
Posted by: TANK | May 2, 2010 5:37:03 PM
Ugh, I always hated that song, but she did have another one called "Shut Up and Drive" that I used to like. I'm embarrassed to say I expected it to be someone a little more high profile, but good for her anyway...
Posted by: Ealan | May 2, 2010 6:45:41 PM
Congrats to her, whoever she is.
I've gotta say I expected the announcement to AT LEAST be someone I'd heard of.
Posted by: adamblast | May 2, 2010 6:53:27 PM
who???
Posted by: J. | May 2, 2010 7:58:01 PM
1) What did k.d. lang do to piss you off? 2) Do you realize that if she were, in fact, a major star, you wouldn't need to explain who she is?
Posted by: Rebel | May 2, 2010 9:08:51 PM
I hadn't heard of Jennifer Knapp, either. The fact is, there is a large swath of our country who listens to completely different music, watches shows that we never even flip past, reads books in sections of the bookstore we would only walk through on the way to the bathroom... This country is culturally divided and the conservative section of the country does a good job keeping out our influence.
This is great news because a person's mind is much more likely to be changed by someone LIKE THEM, from THEIR community.
And k.d. lang came out the same year as Constant Craving, that was a very pop-ish single. It seems like she'd already forged a path out of the country-specific niche. But yeah, they probably shouldn't have said "first".
Posted by: Andrea | May 2, 2010 10:49:57 PM
Because you haven't heard of her or don't listen to country music doesn't NOT make this a huge story. Good for her and us!
Posted by: NYSmike | May 3, 2010 12:29:19 AM
"Because you haven't heard of her or don't listen to country music doesn't NOT make this a huge story".
Actually, this is a total non-story, precisely because no one has heard of her. Who's gonna be coming out in People next, my mailman?
If you're gonna hype a coming out for weeks in advance, and book him/her on all the major talk shows, it had better damn well be someone who at least 10% of the country has heard of. Otherwise, you're just embarassing herself. This is just a naked, sad ploy to get on TV.
Posted by: ryan | May 3, 2010 1:30:27 AM
So this is the BIG news for Wednesday? Are you kidding? I've never heard of this country star.
With all the hype that surrounded this, I thought it was going to be of someone with significant star power.
What a dud.
Posted by: JoeyO'H | May 3, 2010 8:04:18 AM