Vandross' sad song
Eight months after his death, singer Luther Vandross' friends are helping him out of the closet.
"He was way 'in,'" recalls comic
Bruce Vilanch. "He said to me, 'No one knows I'm in the life.' … He had very few sexual contacts."
"A famously open gay singer-songwriter [told me] Luther was dying to have a boyfriend," columnist
Michael Musto recalls in Out magazine.
While some Vandross fans may be appalled by the exposé,
Michael Roberson, director of gay group People of Color in Crisis, argues, "Clearly, a lot of black gay performers feel they can't come out. Yet it would be important, particularly to black, gay, young people, to see black gay role models."
Meanwhile, long-closeted crooner
Johnny Mathis is speaking frankly about his heartache.
"I've been a romantic all my life, but as for having tangible relationships, I've never had that," he tells Britain's Daily Express. "I get a little alone at times."
Mathis says that after word spread that he was gay, he became a target for homophobic bigots. "I've had a few death threats from the Southern states," he says. "So 20 years ago, I decided to perform without publicizing the concerts with interviews. I'd had enough exposure and was concerned about what came with it."
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