Page 8-9 - WINTER 2013

WINTER 2013 www.fyne.co.uk
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Angela Morley
(1924-2009)
Born Walter Stott,
Morley was influenced
by the light music
composer Robert
Farnon. Pre-transition,
Morley worked on
several projects,
including the theme and other music for
Hancock’s Half Hour. Morley was also the
musical director for The Goon Show and
also worked with Shirley Bassey and Dusty
Springfield. In 1972, Morley decided that they
could no longer live as a man and decided to
undergo a sex change operation. Her most
notable work afterwards was the score to the
famous children’s film Watership Down. She
also assisted John Williams in many of his
famous film scores, including ET.
Dusty
Springfield
(1939-1999)
One of the most
significant 60s icons,
Dusty Springfield’s
family were very
musical and gave her
a good grounding
when she decided to go into the industry.
She started out in a few trios, including one
called The Springfields. Her first solo album
was a hit and she soon became one of the top
starts in what was arguably the golden age
of British pop music. She never had a public
relationship with a man and kept her sexuality
from becoming public. However, later in life
she relaxed a little and although she never
declared it publicly, she decided not to hide
her relationships with women and even held a
wedding style ceremony with one.
Freddie
Mercury
(1946-1991)
Born Farrokh Bulsara in
what is now Tanzania,
Mercury had a voice
which stretched across
four-octaves, giving
him an amazingly
wide range. He joined a few bands at school
but it was when he worked with Brian May
and Roger Taylor that his career really took
off. Queen became one of the biggest bands
of all time and one of the most memorable
performances in history was when Mercury
took to the stage and LiveAid in 1985. But
Mercury knew his sexuality from a young age
and sadly, he became one of many gay men to
fall ill with the AIDS virus, cutting his life and
career short at the age of 45.
Sir Elton John
(1947)
Born Reginald Dwight,
John started his career
as a pub pianist. He
answered an advert in
NME looking for song
writers and teamed
up with a lyricist who
also answered the advert, Bernie Taupin, a
writing partnership that is still going strong
today. Elton soon had a highly successful solo
career which lasted many years. His sexuality
was still hidden from the public and he even
got married, briefly, but came out, firstly as
bisexual, in Rolling Stone magazine, 1976,
making him one of the first ever out pop stars.
After his divorce he said officially that he is
gay and has been a campaigner for gay rights
ever since.
Jimmy
Somerville
(1961)
Unlike many gay men,
Somerville decided
to be open about his
sexuality from a very
early age. But life as
an openly gay man
in Glasgow was not easy, and so at the age of
17 he ran away to London. There he joined
a band called Bronski Beat, whose biggest
single –Smalltown Boy- was all about growing
up gay. His second band was called the
Communards and he continued to have hits
with them throughout the 80s before setting
out to do solo work. In a time when few
famous people were out, he stood alone and
never feared to speak out for gay rights.
K.D. Lang
(1961)
Kathryn Dawn Lang
was born in Canada
and grew up in the
rural town of Red
Deer in Alberta. At
college she developed
a deep appreciation
for the music of Patsy
Cline and she formed a tribute band called
The Reclines. After releasing an album with
them, she went on to have a very successful
solo career and also stared in a few films. She
was one of the first lesbian singers to come
out and definitely the first to continue having
mainstream success after coming out.
George
Michael
(1963)
Michael was part of
80s heartthrob band
Wham! He later moved
onto a very successful
solo career. In total, he
has been working in
the music industry for over 30 years and has a
great many devoted fans. For a lot of his life,
he felt he was bisexual, but it was only when
he fell in love with a man he realised he was
gay. He was also forced out of the closet when
he was arrested in a sting operation in a public
toilet in the USA. He made no apologies for
the incident and in fact commented on how it
helped him to finally come out.
Stephen
Gately
(1976 – 2009)
Gately grew up in a
poor area of Dublin.
When he was at
school, he was a keen
singer and performer.
He joined Boyzone
when they were formed in 1993 and the band
became one of the biggest selling acts of the
90s. After a short solo career, he reformed
with the band and also had success as the lead
role in Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. He held back information about
his sexuality until he was forced to come-out
before a book revealing the information was
published. Ten years later, he sadly died of an
undiagnosed heart problem. The Daily Mail
were widely accused of homophobia when one
of their journalists suggested his ‘lifestyle’ was
to blame.