The music industry is and has been filled with queer musicians, from classical times through pop music, punk bands, and hip hop today. In fact, queer representation in the music industry has been perhaps the most prominent of all of the arts. A queer person, lesbian, gay, openly bisexual, or trans woman or man releasing music throughout the ages, whether an entire symphony, a debut album, or one or two songs has impacted the entire field of music and influenced people of a young age who came and will come after therm.
A simple Google search will reveal queer artists in all genres of the music world, many mainstream media outlets addressing the top 10 queer musicians within specific genres. But if we're going to talk about queer artists in the music industry, we cannot limit ourselves to any top 10. We have to address them across genres.
So, let's take a look at some of these folx and what they bring, have brought, or will bring to the music industry.
Freddie Mercury
No listing of top queer artists could exist without this man. As everyone knows, the music of Queen hit the music scene like an earthquake, with its mix of rock, opera, and other combos of folk and even pop music. Yet, we certainly would not call Mercury a pop star. The music of Queen was almost a genre all on its own, known not just for their compositions but for being one of the best bands ever.
As for Mercury himself, he was a bisexual who had to remain in the closet throughout his short life (he died at 45 from an AIDS-related illness), not only because of his parents but also because of the times and his concern for the reputation of the band. Ultimately, he told the band members, but they already knew from hints all along the way. It was Mercury, for example, who suggested the name "Queen" for the band - a derogatory slur for a gay man at that time.
Queen's debut album, called simply "Queen" did garner some attention and put the band on the map among other popular bands of the time. But it wasn't until 1975 with the album "A Night at the Opera" that the band and singer songwriter Mercury hit the top of the charts, both in the US and the UK. This was the album that housed Bohemian Rhapsody, completely composed and arranged by Mercury. It was then released as a single, and, because of its length (6 minutes), it could be considered a debut ep. The "boys of the band" were on their way.
Some say that this hit song was autobiographical in many ways. The line "Mama, I just killed a man tonight," many say, was his way of telling the world that he was not a straight man but a bisexual. And other parts of the lyrics seem to refer to the struggles he faced, along with many artists who were LGBTQ+ at the time. Remember, in the 70s, queer people were still considered to have a mental health illness.
Miley Cyrus
Tweens and early teens fell in love with Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel. She's since moved well beyond that early musical/acting career into a force of her own and has become a model for other women in the business.
Cyrus has been all over the place in terms of genres - pop, pop punk, country and country pop, with a bit of R&B thrown in. By 2019, she stated that her music will be genre-less with hip hop and even psychedelic mixed in. This was evident in her release She is Miley Cyrus, which included not just a debut ep, but three.
Her latest full-length work, her 8th, titled Endless Summer vacation, was recently released in 2023 featuring a singles release of the song Flowers. She collaborates with others on the composition of her songs, but has written a country music song or two on her own, namely You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home" and "Hoedown Throwdown."
Her fan base for all of her early years was young teens, but it grew as they did, and Gen Z continues to be her biggest base, similar to that of Taylor Swift. But she cozies up not just to Swift but to other musical greats like Dolly Parton. And she has loved doing covers of other artists, including those of Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, at concerts.
Miley's latest album, released in 2023, Endless Summer Vacation, demonstrates a truly eclectic style, possibly symbolic of her eclectic queer identity. The single from that album "Flowers" earned her a Grammy Award in 2024.
Sam Smith
Born in London in 1992, Sam Smith knew from childhood that his career would be in music. He went to school in London but continued his passion for music, and, according to Smith himself, look for inspiration from artists like Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.
Smith's first break came with the 2012 song "Latch" when featured as a falsetto voice with the musical duo Disclosure. That song went to the top of the UK singles chart. Soon after, Smith launced his own single, "Lay Me Down." The career was decidedly launched. Hits, including "La La La" and "In the Lonely Hour" and "Money on My Mind" soon followed.
Smith publicly identified as gay when "In the Lonely Hour" became a hit, saying, "I've never been in a relationship before...'In the Lonely Hour' is about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn't love me back...I was in a very dark place."
2015 was a big year for Smith. With the hit "Stay With Me" and his hit album including that song, he received four Grammy Awards - Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. And during one of those acceptance speeches, he stated, "Before I made this record, I was doing everything to try and get my music heard," Smith said during one of his four acceptance speeches. "It was only until I started to be myself that the music started to flow, and people started to listen." He clearly understands how important self-love is.
The awards continued to flow, including a Golden Globe and Academy Award in 2016 for the hit "Wall." Smith dedicated that win to the global LGBTQ community.
Lil Nas
Who could smash together rap and country and come up with a hit single? Lil Naz, that's who. His hit piece "Old Town Road" proves that it can be done.
He was born Montero Lamar Hill and grew up in the housing projects of Atlanta. He was raised in church, by evangelical and very traditional Christian parents. And part of his struggles reflected the ambivalence of loyalty to his parents and the new road he wanted to carve for himself (especially as a gay black man).
His musical debut single "Old Town Road (I Got the Horses in the Back)" was self-released in 2018, out of necessity. Here's how that all happened.
In 2018, he dropped out of college in favor of a musical career, much to his parent's dismay, and moved in with his sister, trying to promote his music online. After his sister told him he would have to move out soon, he got busy. Within a month of writing "Old Town Road," he recorded it and released it that very day on "Sound Cloud." It was a totally new sound but caught on quickly. And it landed him a contract with Columbia Records in 2019. That same year, he recorded a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus and both the original and the remix were included in his EP, 7.
The piece originally became popular on TikTok, a venue Lil Naz chose to promote his music. By March 2019, it was hitting the billboard charts and staying there for weeks, both the original and the re-mix with Cyrus.
The rise of Lil Naz and his song was meteoric. At the Annual Grammy Awards in 2019, the remix was nominated for Record of the Year and won an award for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and the Best Music Video. And in 2021, he released his debut studio album, Montero, and, in his own words, the songs have a lot of homosexual references because he had decided what his sexual identity was and needed to show his acceptance of who and what he was. He announced the release on Twitter.
Singles from this release were released early, and there was some controversy for sure. They didn't just push the boundaries of what "polite" society of the world thought to be civil. They smashed right through them. But he brushed off all criticism, even saying to his hip hop colleagues whose songs denigrated and bashed the queer community, "If you keep this up, I will kiss you."
Here's what he had to say to Apple Music:
This album exuberates confidence, creativity, just me completely stepping out of my comfort zone and saying whatever I want and giving my actual stories, giving my fans something to take from me. You know, 7 was cool, I love 7, it’s great, but it wasn’t personal enough, and I feel like that’s exactly what this album’s gonna bring.
As a gay black artist and member of the queer community, Lil Nas is definitely in a minority group. But he is his own person. He came out on Twitter on the final day of Pride month, 2019, although he told his followers, "I thought you knew this already." And he minces no words in responding to his critics. When Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota showed public displeasure over his "Satan sneakers," he replied, "Ur a whole governor and u on here tweeting about some damn shoes. do ur job!" He's a master of social media, his fans love it, and other queer artists have been vocal in support.
David Bowie
A New York Times article written shortly after David Bowie's death was titled, "Was He Gay, Bisexual or Bowie? Yes"
But it is probably more complicated than that. Let's begin at the beginning.
Bowie was born as David Robert Jones in London in 1947. He later changed his name to David Bowie, so as not to be confused with David Jones of the music group, the Monkees. He had an early interest in music, encouraged by a half-brother who was older and who exposed Bowie to rock music and "beat" literature. Unfortunately, that older brother, Terry, suffered from mental illness, was institutionalized, and committed suicide in 1985 - an event that inspired him to write the song "Jump They Say."
Bowie began a career in commercial art but hooked up with some bands and produced some singles, none of which gained any traction. He tried it on his own, again unsuccessfully, and gave up music altogether for a while.
Returning to music in 1969, he signed a contract with Mercury Records and released the single "Space Odyssey" inspired by the movie of the same name. It was a pop hit in the UK and later in the US, ending up #15 on the charts.
His album The Man Who Sold the World in 1970 did it for Bowie. It was a heavier rock sound, indicative of heavy metal, than his earlier music. Hunky Dory came next with two hits - "Hunky Dory" and "Changes." And the music ushered in punk rock.
Enter Ziggy Stardust, an androgynous rock star, following his announcement that he was gay. His album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars ushered in a new phase for his career and an enlarged LBGTQ+ fan base.
Changing again, he disbanded Ziggy and the band but continued his glam rock style with Aladdin Sane, featuring "The Jean Genie" and "Let's Spend the Night Together." in collaboration with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
From that point forward, Bowie produced a number of albums and singles with varying degrees of success. While not openly engaged in LGBTQ activism, his songs supported the community. His Young Americans (1975) included the classic "Fame" which he co-wrote with John Lennon and Carlos Alomar and became his first Single to top the charts in America.
Bowie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.
Bowie died in 2016 at the age of 69. In 2017 he was posthumously awarded the winner in 5 categories of the Grammy Awards.
In the end, many fellow artists attribute their inspiration to Bowie who was a bit of a pop star chameleon, changing personas and styles but pushing boundaries with both his music and fashion.
Ethel Cain
Ethel Cain is the alter-ego of singer songwriter and transgender Hayden Silas Anhedonia. When she performs, she is Ethel Cain, but her story runs far deeper. Anhedonia grew up in Perry Florida, a town of 7,000, and her signature work, Preacher's Daughter, is in some ways autobiographical but with much darker and gothic elements. Growing up transgender in her town wasn't easy, may harder than for other trans women in other parts of the country.
Each track of her debut album is stark and "gritty," and they are long, a combination of folk, rock, and blues. They depict a darker side of America and the struggles of searching for freedom from traditional societal norms. In the end Cain dies a terrible death, a victim of cannibalism. It certainly isn't any type of music anyone would dance to.
But this is not the end of Ethel Cain's story. Sequels are planned, according to the artist in an interview - three actually - the first one of Ethel in high school, then one about her mother, and one about her grandmother.
Preacher's Daughter has not been the only piece from this queer artist. "Sun Bleached Flies" and "American Teenager," an anti-war piece, are two singles of note. Barack Obama listed "American Teenager" as one of his favorite songs in 2022.
Towa Bird
Here is one of the latest pop artists to be among our top gay people artists. Born Deb Never to British and Filipino parents, she grew up moving between Hong Kong and Thailand, eventually moving to London as a teenager. Like a lot of "discovered" artists she got noticed on TikTok, with videos of her shredding guitar skills, playing riffs over the pieces of other artists from her bedroom. She was signed by record label Interscope in 2021, and her primary work, American Hero had its release this June. All of this happened in four years.
Before moving to London, at age 14, Bird formed a band in Hong Kong, called the Glass Onions, and played in local dives. She also realized at that time that she was a lesbian.
Her first "gig" was playing for Olivia Rodrigo on her Disney documentary Olivia Rodrigo: Driving Home 2 U.
Bird has two singles releases, "Wild Heart" and "B.I.L.L.S," both of Indie-Pop Style. Her EP, American Hero was released this June. Subjects of her music include homosexuality and anti-capitalist leanings. With time, she will surely have a wider audience than currently. She's an "up and comer."
Orville Peck
Here is another relative newcomer to the music industry, hitting the country scene with the release of his debut album Pony in 2019. Since that time, queer (openly gay) Orville Peck has been a pretty prolific producer - 2 more studio albums, 4 Eps, and 9 singles, none of which aren't hard to listen to. His themes are love, identity, and self-discovery. His performance playground? The US and Canada.
The one unique feature? He performs in a mask and some pretty unusual clothing at times. His growing fan base seems to love it and him.
Peck considers himself somewhat of an outsider in country music, being openly gay and sometimes infusing Indie pop into his music, but his songs are also pretty typical of traditional country of the 70s.
Peck's latest work, Stampede, just hit the scene in August of this year and is a compilation of duets with other artists, among them Willie Nelson, Elton John, Noah Cyrus, and Kylie Minogue. In Stampede, he and Willie Nelson collaborate on an old piece, "Cowboys are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other," sort of a queer country cult classic. Both agreed that a remix of that piece was long overdue.
Lady Gaga
"Born This Way." Who hasn't heard of this studio album and its headliner piece? In fact, the single sold over a million copies within 5 days. The album sold 8 million copies globally and earned 3 Grammy nominations for album of the year. This was all way back in 2011, and much has happened since then.
Lada Gaga has 5 solo studio albums, 2 collaborative albums with Tony Bennett, 3 soundtrack albums, and too many singles to count. And all of this combined with an acting career and Oscars to boot.
She came out as bisexual during a 2009 interview with Barbara Walters and has since been a staunch advocate of the LGBTQ community both in her music and activism. As for themes in her music? They are political, social, sexual, and always with undertones of love, acceptance, and equality. Her activism and advocacy are legendary.
One thing stands out about Lady Gaga's genre - it is eclectic, to say the least. She combines rock and pop, sometimes with a bit of punk and jazz, even in the music to dance to.
Chappell Roan
Her debut album, "The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess," in 2023, has thrown Chappel Roan into popularity. But her journey has not always been easy. The title "Midwest princess" speaks to her roots, born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz in Missouri, not exactly the gay-friendliest state in the nation.
After lots of defeats and start overs, Roan seems to have found her style, with a quasi-drag persona, complete with the makeup, clothing, high boots and mounds of red curls.
Her newest single, "Good Luck Babe" earned 7 million streams in its first week.
She is currently on a "Midwest Princess" tour through North America and several overseas cities. Her concerts are all theme-based, and goers are encouraged to dress the part.
Here's a pop musician who has much to share and a long future in the industry.
Elton John
This article has to wrap up with an icon of the queer music industry. In January 2024, Elton John achieved EGOT status - he had won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award, joining only 18 others who have done so. His concert, Elton John: Farewell from Dodger Stadium in the summer of 2023 earned him an Emmy. That concert was part of his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour," as he ended his long and prolific career as perhaps the top queer artist of this and last century. In all he has 5 grammy awards, 2 academy awards for best original piece, and a tony award for best original musical score.
This queer artist has a genre that is a blend of pop and rock that only he was able to produce. It brought him early hits in the 70s, including "Crocodile Rock", "Philadelphia Freedom," "Candle in the Wind," and the unforgettable duo with Kiki Dee, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart." And who can forget "Rocketman" or the music from The Lion King or Aida which he composed with his long-time partner Bernie Taupin. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
