(Photo: Chely performs at Fleet Week 2005 in New York City. Photo by Samantha L. Quigley)
By Ily Goyanes
One can imagine that being a lesbian in the world of country music is not easy. “It’s the unforgivable,” says Chely Wright, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “Historically, country music would rather an artist be a drunk—they even encourage and endorse that one. You get good money from Jim Beam to put that emblem on the side of your bus. I was on the Crown Royal tour, and I have to say it was one of my favorite tours. They would rather you were a drug addict than be gay. They will forgive you if you beat your wife, lose your kids to state, get six divorces, make a sex tape, get labeled as a tramp—any and all of it is better than being gay.”
Chely Wright, a country music star who just came out as a lesbian in a June issue of People magazine, was named best new female vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1994. She scored a number one hit on the country music charts with her song, “Single White Female” and has written and recorded a myriad of country hits with country stars such as Brad Paisley, who she also dated before coming out.
Wright basically used Paisley as a beard and has publicly regretted the way she treated him. She goes into detail about their relationship and the hurt she caused him in her autobiograpgy, Like Me, which was released last month.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wright began singing at eleven years old. She started her own band before graduating high school. Wright performed in musical productions such as Opryland USA while attending workshops to perfect her singing and songwriting skills.
Mercury/Polygram signed her to its label in 1992 and released her first album in 1994.
Wright is the first country music star to come out of the closet.
She talks about being a country music fan, and a lesbian, growing up. “I just didn’t see anybody like me. And I knew I wasn’t going to be the first. I knew I was never going to make it on the Opry stage or be able to record an album. I knew I would never get a record deal.”
But, she did. As an adult, she knows that whether she is ostracized or not, country music is a part of her. “There is so much of country music that is genuinely me,” Wright said. “It’s not like I don’t fit in—I do and in so many ways. As a little kid growing up I sat there and read all the liner notes. They were the margins for imagination. Nobody knows what country music fans expect a country star to be more than me because I am a country music fan and always have been. I felt like the people on the album were telling me their story and they were looking right back at me. Loretta Lynn was looking into my eyes and saying, ‘I’m singing this song for you.’ Those artists were welded into my mind. Those artists were about God, family and faith. And, you know? I am too.”
She has taken a huge chance with her career by coming out of the closet in what is notoriously known as a homophobic old boys club. ”I don’t think a lot of people will come forward and condemn me. Some might but there won’t be many. It’s the quiet haters that do a lot of damage in the world.”
Wright didn’t feel that she had a choice, not as a lesbian, or as an artist. “I had my breakdown—which some of my friends called breakthrough, which is a nice way to say it—and I was halfway through the recording process of this new record when I decided to come out. I was already set on course to make this record with [producer] Rodney Crowell and it was not going to be defined by a country radio sound. I didn’t decide to come out and then make an alt-country album to go with it.”
The potential loss of fans is something that Wright has come to accept. “When you have a big hit in country music or a couple of them, as I have had, you can fully expect to enjoy a career in touring for the rest of your life. You can pay your bills through live music in some capacity, in some way, shape, or form. There is no greater fan in music than a country music fan and once they sign up, they love you for the rest of your life. I am prepared to lose that and I expect I will lose that. This is the right thing to do.”