Contents:
- THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S
- CHART TOPPG SGERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
THE VELVET MAFIA: THE GAY MEN WHO HELPED SHAPE MIC THE 60S
But the people who shaped and advised those artists – the on who managed the stars of the classic rock age – were, by an outsized marg, gay terwoven muny clud Brian Epste (who brought the world the Beatl), K Lambert (who -managed the Who), Simon Napier-Bell (the Yardbirds, and a young Marc Bolan), Robert Stigwood (Cream, the Bee Ge), Billy Gaff (Rod Stewart), Ken Pt (David Bowie), Barry Krost (Cat Stevens), as well as Tony Stratton-Smh (who formed the visnary label Charisma for bands like Genis). A new book tled The Velvet Mafia: the Gay Men who Ran the Swgg Sixti aims to tell the Brish si of this story by focg on several key players the scene, cludg a few of the aforementned nam along wh the novative producer Joe Meek and the head of the UK’s most powerful label at the time, Sir Joseph Lockwood. ”At the same time, the rich, powerful and fluential men faced the nsirable nsequenc of beg gay at a time when homosexual acts were still outlawed the UK.
”There were, fact, a few powerful gay women the Brish rock scene at the time as well, cludg Vicki Wickham, who booked the acts on the semal TV show Ready Steady Go and who later managed Dty Sprgfield and LaBelle. ”In some ways, managers like Epste and other others uld sulate themselv om the everyday life of gay men at the time – throwg their own exclive parti and circulatg elevated circl where they uld do as they pleased. Ironilly, after the law agast homosexual acts changed Bra 1967 – crimalizg them certa circumstanc and for those of a certa age – the harassment of LGBTQ people actually tensified.
CHART TOPPG SGERS WHO HAVE COME OUT AS GAY
“But post-67, and wh the formatn of the Gay Liberatn Front 1970 Bra and wh gay people beg more outspoken, the raids and the psdo-polil attacks started to happen more. And whether he’s kept a low profile sce then bee he’s livg his life or bee ’s hard for an pennt mician to get tractn this world, he’s still the pg ballaer wh which a young gay man might fall love.
Yet back the ’70s was slim pickgs for openly gay artists, and we all knew how to read an artist that ma a joke about beg “bi-astal” (he even named an album that) while throwg himself across the stage like a hyperactive chore on a Broadway belter like “I Go to R. Currently on her mea culpa tour (for, amongst other thgs, supportg Tmp) and tryg to get the foc back on her mic, this mouthy bisexual MC threw away a lot of goodwill by turng her reer to a spectacle of wrong-footedns — her e of slurs agast gay men has been wily reported. Somewhat lost to history, Bean found the clive Uny Fellowship Church Movement and was rponsible for the early gay lib anthem “I Was Born This Way.” Hmmm, I wonr if Lady Gaga was old enough to know this track….
Known for a quick w and sharp tongue, Belli followed up an unexpectedly short stt on Season 4 of RuPl’s Drag Race wh hilar mic parodi of pop hs that mocked Chick-fil-A’s anti-gay polics (“Chow Down (at Chick-fil-A)”), praised well-endowed men (“Love You Like a Big Schlong”) and skewered secret bedroom submissiv (“That Boy is a Bottom”).