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grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><div class="GenericCalloutWrapper-tojWn iHBnEl llout--has-top-borr set-embedd-le" data-ttid="GenericCallout"><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><noscript><img alt="Tonx says that his dtry iends havent fend him “They want to but they nt.”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></span></div><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn AssetEmbedCaptn-fNQBPI fmQnYP asset-embed__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Tonéx says that his dtry iends haven’t fend him: “They want to, but they n’t.”</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Elena Dorfman</span></div></figure></div><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">Anthony Charl Williams II has never had a fortable relatnship wh the dtry that ma him famo. Fans know him as Tonéx. “Pronounced Toe-Nay” was the name of his breakthrough album, a ago, and marked the arrival of a major new voice gospel mic. Tonéx’s eccentric style and vertigo high not helped make him one of the most acclaimed praise sgers of the past and, for a time, one of the most succsful. He had a certa hip-hop swagger, and he cultivated a y, teasg sensibily; he had the stat of a sex symbol, while portrayg himself as a righteo alternative to the nt mastream. One early song, “Wag,” sound a lot like a breathy slow jam, though the lyrics were about “wag” for dive guidance. (“Now that I listen back to , I nnot believe I got away wh ,” he says, chucklg proudly. “That’s where I got a lot of my female fan base om.”) In his mic vios, he flirted wh rnchs: he uldn’t thst his hips, but he uld undulate his torso and snap his kne open and shut. A boistero live double CD, “Out the Box,” won him six trophi at the 2005 Stellar Awards, gospel’s most prtig event, and sold more than half a ln pi. His succs was proof of the ntued populary of gospel mic, a vibrant genre wh s own astcture and star-makg machery; he was a wele gut at all the biggt black church, a regular prence on BET’s gospel shows, and a headler at the gospel ftivals that fill theatr and arenas natnwi. But then Tonéx fell om grace—or, pendg on your pot of view, was phed.</p><p class="paywall">He is only thirty-four years old, a young veteran. He has released dozens of CDs, which nta some of the strangt and most sctive Christian pop mic sce the glory days of Jam Cleveland; his most evint mil forebears are adventuro pop stars such as Stevie Wonr, Ja Jackson, and Erykah Badu. He knows his way around an old-fashned spirual, but om the start he lighted embracg the cultural signifiers of the nonchurch world: Indian cense, hip-hop slang, Rastafarian head wraps, slim-ftg European sus, tnk-rattlg bass. He also ma a hab of tweakg old-fashned, upstandg churchgoers, though not always tentnally. For gospel stars, as for other black church lears, there remas somethg slightly sndalo about divorce, and 2005 Tonéx was divorced, after four years of marriage to Yvette Graham, a sger who had sometim rerd as Ms. Tonéx. Sce then, he has ma a seri of flammatory statements which he nounced the dtry and qutned church doctre.</p><p class="paywall">This past September, the televisn host known as Lexi broadst an terview wh Tonéx on the Word Network, a gospel channel, which the sger ma his cleart public statements so far about his sexual orientatn, which had long been a subject of speculatn and bate. In the terview, Tonéx ss on a pale-green uch, quietly but nfintly answerg qutns that he had been avoidg for years.</p><p class="paywall">Lexi asks, “Have you stggled wh homosexualy?”</p><p class="paywall">“Not ‘stggled,’ ” Tonéx says, gily. “It wasn’t a stggle.”</p><p class="paywall">Lexi persever. “Is beg attracted to men unr ntrol?”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Tonéx repeats the phrase, weighg . “ ‘Unr ntrol.’ ”</p><p class="paywall">“You said you were attracted to men, at one pot.”</p><p class="paywall">“Am.”</p><p class="paywall">“ ‘Am’?”</p><p class="paywall">“Mm-hmm.”</p><p class="paywall">“So. Do you practice?”</p><p class="paywall">“Like, piano?”</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx lghs, clearly enjoyg Lexi’s disfort. Later the terview, he says he believ that God honors “same-sex venants,” and impli that church should, too. Lexi asks whether he is wag for God to liver him om his attractn to men. “I’m not sure that’s somethg I have to be livered om,” he says.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The terview was an immediate sensatn. Tonéx is an unlikely activist, and the vio he cled to label himself gay, or to advote gay marriage. (He told Lexi that he believed the term “marriage” was “set asi for man and woman.”) Even so, Tonéx is the first high-profile gospel sger history to e out of the closet. Many of his fans wonred what took him so long. Maybe some of them wonred, too, what took gospel mic so long, bee the qutn that Tonéx fally answered has been hntg the genre for the better part of a century.</p><p class="paywall">Wh hours, Tonéx started to realize what he had done. “The next day, like, six thgs jt ncelled,” he says. “Like, ‘Oh, no.’ ” Upg ncerts melted away. His relatnship, however straed, wh the mastream gospel dtry—an ternnected world of rad statns and publitns and promoters, built on the actured but sturdy foundatn of the black church Ameri—was effectively over. For Tonéx, there will be no Pentestal-nventn appearanc, no relig-rad hs, and no grand (and remunerative) gtur om sympathetic and well-nnected megapreachers—at least, not any time soon. He had been sgg tenor a lol choir, but he qu, bee he was aaid that his reputatn would damage s legacy. He says that he got a surge of e-mails, om iends and strangers, but public his fellow gospel stars remaed silent, or worse. (The gospel sger Derick Haddon clared, via Twter, “I don’t have a sissy bone my body,” although he claimed that the post wasn’t aimed at Tonéx.) And pastors began to e his life as a parable about what n happen when a Christian strays om Biblil tth.</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx is hopeful that the attentn generated by his announcement, and the righteons of his msage, will make him more succsful than ever. The Bible says, “The glory of this latter hoe shall be greater than of the former,” and Tonéx adds, “Eher I’m about to n to that latter greatns or I’ve done somethg credibly wrong.” In the meantime, he is startg over, equipped wh ltle more than a mic stud and a small but eager band of vote. On a recent Thursday afternoon, the man who ed to be lled the future of gospel mic uld be found his stud, a small bs sue Lemon Grove, a suburb of San Diego, where he was teachg a lanky kid named Eric how to sg.</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx was drsed cheerful hip-hop chic: a black-llared shirt wh polka dots, halfway-baggy jeans, maroon high-top sneakers. In the past, he was known for outlandish hair (he had a mohawk phase) and wigs, but nowadays his appearance is anti-theatril. And although his var public rants and rentatns have sometim suggted that he is impulsive to a flt, he has a sober manner that seems librated to foster the oppose imprsn. He is mcular but slight, wh a mellow speakg voice, soft enough to draw an terlocutor toward him.</p><p class="paywall">His stud is rated wh an image of himself a samurai pose, agast the backdrop of a Japane flag (when he is givg sgg lsons, he lls himself Vol Sensei); a moody photograph of a shirtls man embracg a naked woman; a poster of Johnny Depp “Charlie and the Cholate Factory”; reproductns of Aocentric patgs. “Star Guar,” a dreamy electronic track by the Chemil Brothers, me through the speakers, and Tonéx led Eric a rhyme: “I never, ever, ever do a thg about the weather / ’Cse the weather never ever do a thg for me.” The exercise was signed to improve enunciatn and breath ntrol. After a few mut, he moved on to the subject of vol ns—the ostentat embellishments that gospel sgers e to monstrate the strength of their anotg, and their lungs. He sang a wordls phrase, full of wild swoops and yols, and then disaggregated , showg Eric how to build a big flourish out of small on. Tonéx turned to an open laptop and addrsed s built- vio mera. “If you want to be a track star, and n real well, then you’ve got to break down that sequence of not, and make sure you’re htg every one,” he said. He psed. “Y’all there? Can we move on to the next one?” A few dozen people had logged to watch the lson live on the Web; this ssn was ee, but Tonéx hop to turn onle vol stctn to a bs, chargg fifty dollars per ssn. Later, when the mera was off, he did a quick lculatn. “A forty-stunt class? That’s rent!”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="“And wot ave we ere guvnor”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“And wot ’ave we ’ere, guv’nor?”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 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12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The next morng, Tonéx arrived at his office later than he’d planned, and he seemed subdued. He was wearg a turquoise-and-whe striped Amerin Eagle polo shirt wh the llar up, and he was holdg a duffelbag that ntaed Boston, his whe Malte. He said, “When I got up to see you, man, I woke up to a disnnected cell phone, on the verge of beg evicted, livg wh my mom—to take re of her—and thkg, How the hell did I end up here?” Along one wall, there was a rack of polyter drs and gowns SweeTart lors, which he sells to churchgog women of a certa age. (“Church jumpsus,” he lls them.) Next door is a boutique he owns, the Ink Spot, a shag-rpeted place that sells affordable bohemian cloth, many of which seem to have e straight om Tonéx’s personal llectn, along wh signer sunglass of uncerta provenance; was closed, and stayed that way all weekend.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">He was stg at his puter, and he pulled up a recent unsoliced e-mail:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>If you’re nng om somethg, remember, you’re only nng om yourself. Reevaluate yourself, your life, and spir, and ask yourself, “Is all worth ?” You know your charge and your llg, but ’s up to you to pick up the mantle. I’m prayg for you, and supportg you. No matter what you do, you will always have me your rner, God bls.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">He lghed whout sg and said, “Well, obvly not.” He still seems wound when nonted wh evince that some old fans feel betrayed; he n nceive of no good reason that people everywhere shouldn’t love him. “Usually, I jt lete,” he said, as he snned the e-mail one last time. Bee he thks of himself as a brave and often misunrstood artist, he chews false mosty. He is given to grand pronouncements—at one pot, he held forth on “all the wonrful thgs that I’ve acplished a short perd of time, and all that I’ve endured a short perd of time.” But don’t take much to make him cmple. When asked whether any of his iends the dtry had stood by him, he took a ep breath, and his ey filled. “In their hearts,” he said, barely keepg his posure. “They want to, but they n’t. And I unrstand that.”</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx lls the church world “the hyper-bubble,” and he was brought up entirely wh . His father, who was known as A. C. Williams, followed a love of mic out of the church and to the secular world, where he found some succs as an R. & B. saxophone player—he backslid, and did so happily. Then, one Sunday 1970, he went to church and heard an nt sg “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power,” and he was saved all over aga, which spired his wife, Betty, Tonéx’s mother, to get saved, too. Williams had nsirable personal charm—Tonéx remembers his “grand-piano se”—and he put the service of salvatn. In 1993, after workg as a schoolteacher, he found Tth Apostolic Communy Church, the San Diego suburb of Sprg Valley. He died 2004, and Tonéx has led the church ever sce, although he tri to keep his gospel stardom out of the pulp; visors are often surprised to fd that a typil service there is lots of talkg and not much sgg. Tonéx’s church follows an experimental philosophy: the chairs were replaced by uch for a while, to create a stunt-iendly ffeehoe environment, and he has sometim preached lyg down, holdg the Bible the way a kid might hold a lorg book. But the days attendance is low, and for Tonéx the church is more a liabily than an asset; s mortgage is one more monthly bill that he has to figure out how to pay.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Tonéx grew up an unpretent San Diego neighborhood lled Oak Park, a tidy one-story hoe that he still lik to vis, wh an eye toward buyg back someday. (One spects that if the cy offered to buy , name a historil se, and nvert to a mm, he would not object.) He stopped by on the way to lunch, and squted at the lawn through the r wdow. “It was way plher than this,” he said. “They screwed all this up.” In the ntext of gospel mic, Tonéx has always seemed unually streetwise, or tried to. (He once livered a Christian boast hip-hop form: “I be popp’ ps mons’ aspir / I know you’re droolg off my beats—here’s a napk.”) But, as he tells , he wasn’t the kd of boy who tend to spire fear: he was stud and cur and slightly eaked out by neighborhood vlence. He remembers that his grandmother lived on “one of the srit streets ever.” The fay stereo was voted strictly to gospel mic, and he spent hours the livg room leadg an imagary gospel choir. “The rerd-player was the lead volist,” he said, seeg himself back si. “The books were tenors, the uch were the altos—bee they were ually stout.” But he had five olr brothers, and a different atmosphere prevailed the basement, where they hung out; their tast ran more to Rick Jam, Bootsy Colls, and Prce. He remembers hearg “Let the Sunshe In,” om “Hair,” and havg a revelatn that he n now scribe precise mil terms. “It was a mor and a major chord workg together,” he says. “I didn’t know that that sound uld be acplished outsi of gospel.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The Williams fay belonged to the Pentestal Assembli of the World; like most Pentestal nomatns, the P.A.W. trac s roots to Aza Street, Los Angel, where, 1906, a half-bld preacher om Louisiana named William Joseph Seymour led a seri of revival meetgs that grew to a worldwi movement. The name om Acts 2, which scrib the gatherg of the apostl, soon after Christ’s ascensn, on the day of the Pentest: “They were all filled wh the Holy Ghost, and began to speak wh other tongu, as the Spir gave them utterance.” (Peter had to expla to a skeptil crowd that, appearanc notwhstandg, the apostl weren’t dnk—they were saved.) The Pentestal Church aimed at nurturg and spreadg the jubilant atmosphere of that worship service, cludg the practice of speakg tongu.</p><p class="paywall">Dependg on his mood, Tonéx n scribe his childhood among vout Pentestals—who ll themselv “sats”— ic or tragic terms. In his office, he had told a story about films he had seen church when he was five or six that featured lurid visns of the apolypse, plete wh suggtns that bar s might be the mark of the beast. He said, “Practilly all my life, I walked around on eggshells, homey—like, ‘Is this the end of the world, today?’ ” He psed for a long time and looked away; when he started talkg aga, his voice was breakg. “Any time I uldn’t fd my parents, or they didn’t e home on time, or didn’t answer their phone, I’m thkg, It’s the Rapture,” he said, a whisper. “That sh ed to sre me to ath.”</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">Now, after visg his old hoe, he was thkg of his childhood differently: as an elaborate game, wh l he didn’t really unrstand until he had stopped playg. He drove to a favore Mexin rtrant and, over enchiladas, cheerfully swapped P.A.W. war stori wh his assistant, who was also reared the P.A.W. “I didn’t even thk that there’d be whe people Heaven, bee there were only black people our ngregatn,” Tonéx said, and the assistant nodd vigoroly. Tonéx looked at the other ders, most of whom were middle-aged and sually drsed. “I’ll give you a md-set om 1982,” he said. “None of the people here are sats—even me, bee this shirt lls attentn to the flh.” (It did look a ltle snug.) Instead of takg vatns, the Williams fay went to P.A.W. nventns, which were, a sense, more excg. “From a sexualy pot of view, ’s bananas, bee now you’ve got all the closeted eaks the same place,” Tonéx said. “The adult-channel dience go up sixty per cent. We’re so reprsed that when we do wrong we don’t even do wrong the right way!”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="nbh3o8"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="87rddg"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The biggt black Pentestal nomatn is the Church of God Christ, whose fahful are often known as <em class="small">COGIC</em>s. While <em class="small">COGIC</em>s baptize believers “ the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (as prcribed Matthew 28:19), the P.A.W. follows Acts 2:38, which Peter tells the discipl, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you the name of J Christ.” Tonéx remembers advotg onens theology—“bang’ Acts,” church slang—when he was as young as ten, and when he was a teen-ager he had “Acts 2:38” tattooed on his right biceps. Though he tak great pleasure mockg the old sectarian disput, he holds fast to much P.A.W. doctre, cludg the importance of baptism J’ name.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="“We lose a ltle xtery but we ga a lot of nfince.”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“We lose a ltle xtery, but we ga a lot of nfince.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 6.92464 12.775 6.78657 13.009L5.53657 15.1278C4.432 17 5.0875 19.394 7.00068 20.475C8.91385 21.5558 11.3602 20.9144 12.4648 19.0422L14.4648 15.6521C15.5694 13.78 14.9139 11.3859 13.0007 10.305C12.8127 10.1988 12.6195 10.1091 12.4229 10.0357C12.2195 9.95975 11.9956 10.0515 11.8867 10.236C11.7221 10.5151 11.8911 10.8724 12.1932 11.0008C12.2973 11.0451 12.4 11.0956 12.5007 11.1525C13.9356 11.9632 14.4272 13.7587 13.5988 15.1628L11.5988 18.5529C10.7704 19.957 8.93555 20.4382 7.50068 19.6274C6.0658 18.8167 5.57417 17.0212 6.4026 15.6171L7.6526 13.4983Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">This seemgly obscure theologil dispute helped spire an eccliastil spl that beme a cultural divi. “<em class="small">COGIC</em> is really tall and very wi and very bright and very flamboyant—they wore makp the eighti,” Tonéx said, wh mock horror. “We thought we were more righteo: ‘Honey, that’s why they drs like that—bee they don’t have the fullns.’ ” Nearly all the Pentestal gospel stars were <em class="small">COGIC</em>; Andraé Crouch, who wrote “The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power,” got his start wh a sgg group lled the <em class="small">COGIC</em>s. Still, the P.A.W. had a strong enough mil tradn for Tonéx, who had a spirual awakeng at the age of seven, drawn by the vague ia that beg saved would make him more powerful (“like the Bnic Man”), and by the church dm set, which uld be played only by a sat. So he tarried for the Lord, which means shoutg “Thank you, J!” and “Hallelujah!” until you receive the gift of tongu. “It’s the most tense joy I’ve ever felt my life,” he says. He was a saved soul, but also, he eely adms, a poor sport: “Other kids hadn’t got yet, and I remember grabbg the Communn and lookg at them like”—he sed, and cked his head—“Sorry!”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">For most of s history, gospel mic has had two missns: to smuggle secular thrills to church, and to smuggle spirual fervor out of . Three missns, really, sce the first two often turned out to be que lucrative. Ameri’s first gospel stars were the Fisk Jubilee Sgers, who were reced the late eighteen-sixti, om the mp of Fisk Universy, by Gee Leonard Whe, a Civil War veteran who served as the school’s mic teacher and also s treasurer. The first Fisk Jubilee ncerts were held orr to plug a hole the school’s budget. Audienc were soon praisg the group for brgg an thentic taste of plantatn life to the ncert stage (never md that the were llege stunts, sgg morn arrangements of old melodi and lyrics); they sang for Print Grant 1872, and, the next year, for Queen Victoria. In the early twentieth century, black vernacular hymns got tangled up wh the sound of the blu, and by the neteen-twenti a new style was emergg, guid by the Baptist sger and songwrer Thomas A. Dorsey, who spl his early reer between the sacred and the profane. His extraordary talogue clus “Take My Hand, Prec Lord,” which beme, Mahalia Jackson’s rendn, a staple of the civil-rights movement, alongsi such smutty masterpiec as “It’s Tight Like That” and “Somebody’s Been Usg That Thg.” As the dtry thrived, fans me to expect gospel sgers to praise the Lord full time, but the genre remaed ambiguo, bee found exprsn praise songs that echoed (or fluenced) pop songs, and praise sgers who sound (and, sometim, acted) like pop stars.</p><p class="paywall">Gospel was a sound, but was also a procs: the ongog batn of Ain-Amerin sacred mic wh whatever was on the rad. By the early neteen-neti, that often meant hip-hop, or hip-hop-flected R. & B., and so Tonéx tght himself how to e dm mach and sequencers, and he put together a sgg group, <em class="small">ATACC</em>, which stood for “Anoted Tth Apostolic Contemporary Chorale.” He says that church “ was not mon to see lasers and fog and strob and signs outsi that say ‘It’s gog to be a very loud event.’ ” The first <em class="small">ATACC</em> ncert was held at Tth Apostolic, which was startg to thrive. Tonéx’s fame was growg along wh his father’s. For the send ncert, the group booked a bigger church, down the street, and soon was crossg over to non-Pentestal ngregatns. Tonéx was signed by a lol Christian label lled Rcue, and then by Jive Rerds, the home of Brney Spears and R. Kelly, which also operat a gospel subsidiary, lled Very.</p><p class="paywall">Jive issued “Pronounced Toe-Nay” 2000. The album ntaed Tonéx’s first breakthrough song, “Personal J,” which borrowed s tle om the Brish New Wave band Depeche Mo. Tonéx’s “Personal J” had a spaced-out funk groove that relled Sly & the Fay Stone, and a simple claratn: “You are my personal J / I love you more and more.” Tonéx now spects that the song, wh s drawled vols and stttg beat, might never have found a home on gospel rad, or church-choir repertoir, whout the prophylactic power of J’ name. “As long as you have ‘J’ every other lyric, you’re safe,” he says. P listeners probably heard the tle as a playful exercise spirual ttology—J is my J. But perhaps a person’s “personal J” uld be, for better or worse, somethg else altogether: a spir, a dg, a woman, a man.</p><p class="paywall">By 2003, Tonéx was eager to be more than an outlier, so he booked himself to the San Diego Civic Center and rerd “Out the Box,” a live album that is his most tradnal gospel release. Backed by a proper gospel choir (albe one lled the Peculiar People), he sang and preached and hollered, soundg like a cross between a Broadway actor and a tent revivalist. The album spawned his signature song, “Make Me Over,” which is an earnt plea for remptn, spe the cheerful tle. (One verse begs, “Time after time I failed you / Pierced your si, when they already nailed you.”) It quickly graduated om a live favore to a gospel-rad h and then to an Ain-Amerin church staple. Even now, is one of those songs which everyone the pews seems to know, and YouTube is full of rendns by lol choirs, soloists, saxophonists, and a few Christian mime troup. In January of 2004, Tonéx travelled to the Stellar Awards, Hoton, where he performed wh Sheila E.; although “Out the Box” hadn’t arrived stor yet, the performance was a kd of ronatn.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">A few hours after the show, Tonéx learned that his father had had a stroke. Tonéx took over the fay bs, although his father ntued to preach ocsnally. That July, Pastor Williams had a heart attack, and Tonéx’s temporary assignment beme permanent, more bee he felt he uldn’t refe than bee he wanted . “I felt like I’d be lettg him down—my dad didn’t raise a quter,” he says. But he was angry, bee he felt that his father’s sgle-md votn to the church had taken him away om his fay and, ultimately, ntributed to his ath. His apolyptic childhood nightmare had e te: his father had disappeared forever, and the church was to blame. As the servic grew more idsyncratic, formerly loyal members started to leave, cludg most of his father’s si of the fay.</p><p class="paywall">One of the people who left was T. L. Carter, a former yeoman the Navy who had been an armor bearer for Pastor Williams—a personal assistant who travelled wh him, protected him, prayed for him. Carter is a tall, animated man, wh closely cropped hair set off by a rakish gray goatee, and he says that he was prepared to be Tonéx’s armor bearer, too, but was troubled by his unorthodox style. One Sunday, Tonéx lled himself Prophet N8tn. Carter says, “My dghter me up and asked me, ‘Dad, what are you gog to change your name to?’ That’s when I cid I had to get out of there.”</p><p class="paywall">A few years later, Carter started his own ngregatn. Tonéx’s church, Tth Apostolic, li halfway up a hill; om the parkg lot, you n see past hom and shops to the serrated peaks of San Miguel Mounta. In a scffy shoppg center down the road about a quarter e, jammed between the Veteran’s Thrift Store and Hector’s Ta Shop, ss Pastor Carter’s three-year-old venture, Mt. Calvary Pentestal Church. Beyond a humble storeont, there is a large sanctuary, wh space for about two hundred worshippers. Mt. Calvary was mostly empty on Saturday morng, except for a worshipper who stopped by to purchase a Treasure Box—a rton of groceri that the church sells to barga-hungry members. Carter speaks fondly of Tth Apostolic, but he said that some of Tonéx’s teachgs are “unfound Scripture.”</p><p class="paywall">When Carter talks about “the s of homosexualy,” he is speakg for the Pentestal mastream, and probably the broar Christian mastream, too. “It is an abomatn,” he said, prsg his palms together for emphasis. “God hat . But I do not treat any different than the s of fornitn, than the s of adultery, than somebody who drks, smok, cs—’s all s. So do I have homosexuals my church? Y. On both sis, male and female. Do I treat them any different than the liar I have walkg my church? No.”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="Revelatns" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div 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id="clip0_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178637"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button><div class="AlertWrapper-gvFATk MdjE RponsiveCartoonLkAlertPopup-BPAXn kdMXRM shoppg-alert" role="dialog"><div aria-hidn="te" role="prentatn" class="AlertArrow-daOgye AlLda alert-arrow"></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Tonéx sensed early on that he was attracted to other boys, and he spent the better part of three s tryg to figure out what that might mean for him. One day when he was eighteen, he told his parents that he thought he was bisexual. His father said, “You need to go listen to some gospel rerds,” and his mother jt cried. Not long afterward, Pastor Williams preached a sermon which he cried “faggots.” (The next week, Pastor Williams apologized to the ngregatn for his choice of words.) Tonéx says, “Perhaps he thought that by speakg on so harshly would make me turn the other way.” When Tonéx started preachg, he ocsnally nounced homosexualy, too, partly bee such nunciatns work so well. “You n talk about a slut, a hsy, a heifer, a player, any other subject—you are not gog to get the rponse you get when you start talkg about fags, or gays,” he says. “It’s like a football game!”</p><p class="paywall">Des of evasn, followed by the sudn shock of disclosure and s nsequenc, have unrsred Tonéx’s habual serns; the rult is that he tends to talk about sexualy abstract terms. In the face of a church culture that views homosexualy as a form of nce, he has ëmphasized lt and joy, at least durg terviews. (When one blogger asked him if he was sgle, he said, “It’s more about energy and love and an unrstandg of onelf. Right now I’m datg me.”) And he won’t say much about his marriage to Yvette Graham, except to sist that they had a “wonrful sexual relatnship.” But, his mic, a slightly different sensibily emerg, more playful and more disquietg. “Feelgs,” om the double album “Oak Park: 92105,” is a diaphano ballad— sounds like Michael Jackson at his gentlt—about sexual addictn, iled around an unexpected Karen Carpenter sample. And a spoken troductn to a song on “The London Letters” he teas listeners wh an troductn that sounds like a bombshell: “So I’m diggg this guy, right. And I dig him for who he was. But I’m really diggg him for who he almost is. To me, that’s the epome of sexy.” The dénouement arriv immediately—“As a matter of fact, that guy is me. I like me!”—but don’t que ncel out the illic thrill of those openg words.</p><p class="paywall">The provotn got sharper 2007, when Tonéx, feelg trated wh his rerd label (which still hadn’t released a follow-up to “Out the Box”), and bet by mors, released a song lled “The Naked Tth,” which circulated wily, and which he proclaimed, “I did , I ma / The geni, the faggot, the weirdo, the homo, the hobo, the mag.” This was, he explaed, a statement of fiance, not a claratn of inty, but hardly quelled the cursy about his personal life. (He later apologized on his MySpace page to his church fay and to the P.A.W. hierarchy, askg fivens for the “pa and embarrassment” he had ed.)</p><p class="paywall">It’s not only gospel purists who might be bewilred by Tonéx’s disgraphy. In the years sce “Out the Box,” he has given his fans almost nothg but sketchbooks—self-released albums, eewheelg mixtap, remix, and miscellaneo sgl—and yet along the way he has honed a style of his own, a sly but ecstatic form of electronic pop. (As much as any sger alive, he uld e a greatt-hs-and-miss album, or a few of them.) Early last year, he ma a major-label eback wh “Unspoken,” which was propelled by quirky electronic percsn and elive lyrics. It was, retrospect, a fal, halfhearted attempt to succeed the gospel mastream. Dpe posive reviews, the album was largely ignored by the gospel dtry, although the secular world was slightly more receptive. The lead sgle, “Blend,” was a moody, rock-spired ballad, and earned Tonéx a Grammy nomatn, a suably open-end tegory: “urban/alternative.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="506pcj"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Tonéx taped his terview wh Lexi Nashville April, durg the workg exercise known as Gospel Mic Week, where he was promotg “Unspoken”; he says now that beg there remd him of everythg he hat about the gospel dtry, which may help expla why he answered Lexi’s qutns wh unual ndor and a mimum of filibterg. Torrence Glenn, who blogs about gospel mic for BET, says that fans had long ma their own assumptns about Tonéx, addg, “There’s certa thgs that you assume or that you even know, that as long as don’t bee real, you’re fe wh .” By gog public, and by suggtg that a homosexual relatnship n be as godly (or ungodly) as a heterosexual one, Tonéx went om beg jt another sner to beg a high-profile heretic. Glenn remas a fan of Tonéx but says, “He would have to fely seek or claim some kd of liverance, orr to be accepted gospel.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The most forceful rponse me om Donnie McClurk, a Long Island pastor and sger, who for the past has been one of gospel’s biggt nam. (He performed at the 2004 Republin Natnal Conventn, and, 2008, at a gospel ncert anized by the Obama mpaign.) This past November, at the youth meetg of the annual <em class="small">COGIC</em> Holy Convotn, Memphis, he livered a sermon on the dangers of homosexualy. McClurk was weepg before he even started preachg, and, between sobs, he said, “I n’t nmn Tonéx. I got to love Tonéx! But I got to tell him the tth: this is not the will of God.” The jeremiad eventually morphed to a msage of healg:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Right now, every one of you young people that say, “I need this, and I n’t leave out of here actg like this, I’ve got to be right, I don’t want to be an effemate man, I don’t want to be a hard woman, I don’t want to be homosexualy, bisexualy, trisexualy—I’m not a lbian, I’m a holy woman of God! I’m not gay, I’m born aga!” Come now. Run now! Run, n young people! Get up! Get up! Get up! GET UP! I said n!</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">In the vio, which was posted on YouTube, blurry teen-agers stream toward the stage, and McClurk, speakg tongu, lays hands on them. He also mak a personal appeal. “If hadn’t been for this J, I would be homosexual to this day,” he says, or, rather, roars, and his kne buckle as if someone had slugged him.</p><p class="paywall">In his memoir “Eternal Victim/Eternal Victor” (2001), McClurk told the story of his life. He was raped when he was a boy, and says that, as a rult, feelgs of “homosexual lt and sire” grew him, and nearly nsumed him. (Tonéx, too, has talked openly about beg sexually asslted—at three, by a relative, and aga, at six, by a preacher—but he is reful to say that he don’t “blame” those experienc for his orientatn.) Eventually, through prayer and practice, McClurk says, he reoriented himself, featg a proclivy that is, his acunt, as tenac, and as nquerable, as any addictn. Tonéx has known McClurk for years, and he was eply offend to hear himself named McClurk’s sermon. Tonéx said, “He ow me an apology, and he ow me a private phone ll.”</p><p class="paywall">When lifelong heterosexuals nounce homosexualy, they often speak terms of disgt, but McClurk speaks about sire. In his view, same-sex attractn isn’t natural, but isn’t unual, eher. He tak for granted that heterosexual manhood is both an inty and a project. In one of the most movg passag his book, McClurk explas that he was tutored masculy by some of the olr women his church. “If you held your hand up a feme way,” he wr, “they’d h your hand and tell you to ‘Put your hands at your si. Men don’t hold their hands like that!’ ” This stctn extend to mic, too: “When you wanted to sg soprano, you’d hear them say thgs like ‘Get some bass your voice!!’ or ‘Men don’t sg soprano!’ ”</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="“I never watched him at eleventhirtyfive and I didnt watch him at ten and now once aga I wont be watchg him at..." class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w" siz="100vw"/></noscript></picture></a><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE gdZTpI ptn RponsiveCartoonCaptn-dokfdF hJgaLQ rponsive-rtoon__ptn"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo bsWloa ptn__text">“I never watched him at eleven-thirty-five and I didn’t watch him at ten, and now, once aga, I won’t be watchg him at eleven-thirty-five.”</span></div><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTA-eiqqMB iDCQRs"><div class="RponsiveCartoonCTAWrapper-CYIqa iTbFtf"><div class="RponsiveCartoonLkButtonWrapper-hqDAJK eSEhbj"><button aria-label="Copy lk to rtoon" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Copy lk to rtoon</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-pylk" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Copy lk to rtoon</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178637)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M16.3488 10.5017C16.2107 10.7357 16.2926 11.035 16.5318 11.17C16.7709 11.3052 17.0767 11.225 17.2148 10.991L18.4648 8.87225C19.5694 7.00002 18.9139 4.60601 17.0007 3.52508C15.0875 2.44415 12.6412 3.08562 11.5366 4.95785L9.53657 8.34782C8.432 10.22 9.08751 12.6141 11.0007 13.6949C11.1888 13.8012 11.382 13.8908 11.5785 13.9642C11.7819 14.0403 12.0058 13.9485 12.1147 13.764C12.2794 13.4849 12.1103 13.1276 11.8083 12.9992C11.7041 12.9549 11.6014 12.9044 11.5007 12.8475C10.0658 12.0368 9.57417 10.2413 10.4026 8.83712L12.4026 5.44715C13.2311 4.04298 15.0658 3.56187 16.5007 4.37257C17.9356 5.18327 18.4272 6.97878 17.5988 8.38295L16.3488 10.5017ZM7.6526 13.4983C7.79067 13.2643 7.70873 12.965 7.46959 12.8299C7.23044 12.6948 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class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ AlertMsage-jgAjgo bVCFRm ifgabc cxFROy alert-msage"><p aria-hidn="te">Lk pied</p></div></div></div><button aria-label="Shop" class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">To anyone who associat gospel mic wh whoopg and hollerg, this last junctn—“Men don’t sg soprano!”—might e as a surprise. In fact, gospel’s falsetto yawp, sometim known as the “high who,” was popularized the late neteen-forti, by the Ward Sgers, an all-female group known for their flamboyant vol embellishments, and for the wigs and the dazzlg gowns they wore onstage. Their novatns helped spire “Profsor” Alex Bradford, a world-class whooper the forti and fifti who was also gospel’s first great provotr. He ma the “high who” one of his signatur ( was also adopted by Ltle Richard, who, turn, transmted to the Beatl); like the Ward Sisters, Bradford saw no reason that God and glamour should be patible. In “The Gospel Sound,” Anthony Heilbut’s spired history of the genre, Bradford reunts a trip he took wh his group, the Bradford Sgers, to Geia. “We were wearg black rob, each fellow had a different-lored pastel stole,” he said. “Child, those untry women died lghg, they thought was drs.” Later the book, a gospel fan om Detro prais Bradford, sayg, “That man n do the most ridiculo thgs, but I want to tell you, Profsor n sg, do you hear me?”</p><p class="paywall">Bradford’s spirual mentor was Prophet Jon, a Pentestal preacher om Detro, who was sometim lled the Msiah Mk. (As the historian Tim Retzloff has wrten, there was a “homosexual subtext” to Jon’s rise, and he was eventually brought low by a gay sex sndal.) But, even more than preachers, gospel sgers have always been allowed a certa amount of “ridiculo” behavr; many have disvered that theatril excs is, fact, a job requirement. “Sce gospel is theatril, and theater is the paradigm for much of gay life,” Heilbut wr, “gospel has a special allure for gays.” The explanatn may not be satisfyg, but the affy is disputable. As a stock character Ain-Amerin folklore, the gay choir director probably predat gospel mic, and by the time Heilbut published the first edn of his book, 1971, he had no trouble amassg evince that the gayns of gospel was an open secret. One gospel sger tells him, “There’s more sissi and bull daggers the Sanctified church, and they all thk they’re the only on gog to Heaven.” Des later, the cultural anthropologist William G. Hawkwood scribed the “flirtat” atmosphere the choir drsg room at a large Harlem church. One sger told him, “They all rry on, even the straight on. But as long as ’s kept the fay nobody’s gonna say nothg.”</p><p class="paywall">The open secret got ls secretive wh the rise of dis, which fed roarg, churchy vols wh a hard dance-floor pulse. Gospel sgers and groups found themselv embraced by the ee-spired culture of night clubs. In 1977, Carl Bean, a former member of the Bradford Sgers, sred a h wh “I Was Born This Way,” which beme a gay-rights anthem and a dis classic. (Bean later found Uny Fellowship Church, which serv Ain-Amerin gay and lbian muni Los Angel.) Sylvter, the most outré of all the dis divas, was also a regular worshipper at the Love Center Church, Oakland, an clive <em class="small">COGIC</em> ngregatn led by Walter Hawks, of the famo Hawks fay. (He was a member of his brother’s group, the Edw Hawks Sgers, which rerd the 1968 smash “Oh Happy Day.”) Hawks played piano on one of Sylvter’s last sgl, and when Sylvter died, 1988, of <em class="small">AIDS</em>-related , Hawks livered the logy at his funeral, which was held at the Love Center.</p><p class="paywall">For many listeners, the goln age of gospel end on Febary 9, 1991, wh the ath of the Reverend Jam Cleveland. He was beloved for his warm, granular voice, and for the precise way that he bed huge choirs wh mcular rhythm sectns; he did as much as anyone to give gospel mic s funk and s swg. A year later, March, the magaze <em>Jet</em> plited Cleveland’s legacy wh a one-page article that bore the headle “Jam Cleveland Infected L.A. Youth wh HIV, $9 Mil. Lawsu Claims.” The platiff was a man who said that he had had sexual enunters wh Cleveland for three years, startg when he was a teen-ager, and the su was settled quietly out of urt. The allegatn didn’t unrme Cleveland’s populary—his fans had long sce learned to ignore the whispers. One of those fans was Tonéx’s father. “He jt loved anythg Jam Cleveland,” Tonéx says. And the mors? “He jt blocked that out of his md.” It was only a few years later that Tonéx told his father he might be bisexual; apparently, Pastor Williams didn’t register the irony of prcribg gospel rerds to his son the hope of straighteng him out.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="cwhi49m"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="084"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Part of the job of a gospel sger, nowadays, is to reterpret the genre’s perilo history, translatg for listeners who may have e to love the mic while ignorg the ntext which was born, and the liv of the people who created . The provotive tradn of Alex Bradford liv on sgers like Ricky Dillard, a brazen Chigo showman who got his start the cy’s hoe-mic scene; his swoopg, twirlg nductg style sometim sndaliz the worshippers. (A performance at the 2008 Stellar Awards, durg which he kept droppg to a squat, was particularly ntroversial onle, though received a standg ovatn om the dience.) Others have taken a more nontatnal approach. The gospel hip-hop star Kirk Frankl, who was, for a time, one of Tonéx’s clost iends the dtry, once wrote that homosexualy is “a problem today gospel mic—a major ncern—and everybody knows .” And Tye Tribbett, a eic beanpole who puts on one of gospel’s most excg live shows, blends fierce dance mov wh msag of liverance, shoutg, “Come out of lbianism! Come out of homosexualy!”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Bishop Yvette Flunr is a same-genr-lovg pastor and sger who grew up <em class="small">COGIC</em>, and worked alongsi Walter Hawks as an assistant pastor at the Love Center Church, which was, as she puts , “quasi-affirmg”: all people were wele, but not all relatnships were celebrated. Flunr is one of the founrs of Cy of Refuge, San Francis, which is part of the Uned Church of Christ, and which explicly affirms same-sex relatnships, and, more recently, of the Fellowship, a natnwi work of like-md ngregatns. In her view, gospel mic is gay mic, wh vanishgly few exceptns; she timat that the proportn of gospel performers who are, or have been, same-genr-lovg might be as high as nety per cent. “And I’m beg nservative,” she says. She thks Tonéx uld be a harbger of the next Christiany, one that is “radilly clive of the same-genr-lovg muny.” Maybe that’s unlikely, but ’s clear that the old arrangement n’t last forever. Gospel mic has offered generatns of same-genr-lovg sgers a place to ll home, exchange for their obedience, or their silence. This tricky and sometim hard barga shaped the genre, guidg s transfigured love songs, s exprsns of praise and sorrow, s twng of the orthodox and the outrageo. And there’s no tellg what gospel will sound like when that tac arrangement no longer holds.</p><p class="paywall">It was Sunday morng at Mt. Calvary Pentestal Church, and Pastor Carter, havg sweated through his unrshirt and his striped drs shirt, was gettg to work on his gray su jacket. A woman a whe skirt, whe tights, and whe flats hand him a small whe facecloth that seemed entirely aquate. It was time for the sermon, and Carter was waxg accatory. “In church, we like to act like we know the Lord—like, buddy-buddy,” he said. He was preachg on the realy of human sufferg, and s impermanence; the vastns of God’s grace, and s mystery. He found his way to an old favore, Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down green pastur.” A vlent exposn followed, to balance the peaceful imagery. Carter was fdg his rhythm:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>I want to cs somebody!</p><p>But the Lord says, “Lie down!”</p><p>I want to slap somebody the mouth!</p><p>But the Lord says, “Lie down!”</p><p>He maketh me to lie down!</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">Soon, the choir had started sgg, and ngregants were approachg the altar to pray, to be prayed for, to be touched, to llapse. New members were ved up, and some of the olr members formed a le, huggg each newer turn.</p><p class="paywall">Around the time that Pastor Carter was wrappg up and announcg the eveng-service preacher (“Elr John Black—he ed to be a mician the Gap Band”), Tonéx was gettg ready for his sermon, up the hill, at Tth Apostolic. The apse was pated black, like a theatre stage, and a lava lamp, om an earlier era, sat unplugged, near the small bandstand. There were perhaps fifty worshippers, virtually all Ain-Amerin, and overwhelmgly female, and Tonéx stood before them a black ssock, buttoned om ankle to neck. A woman ma an announcement about the upg ight night, a Halloween alternative, which had been sled back (there was no money for ) but not ncelled. Tonéx sed. “God has not given the spir of fear, yet we’re havg ight night—the irony of the Cross,” he said.</p><figure class="AssetEmbedWrapper-eVDQiB byBkf asset-embed"><div class="AssetEmbedAssetContaer-eJxoAx dBHGoQ asset-embed__asset-ntaer"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kKwZhx rponsive-asset AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="RponsiveCartoonWrapper-iTMMjI eXTYsS rponsive-rtoon AssetEmbedRponsiveAsset-cXBNxi eCxVQK asset-embed__rponsive-asset viewport-monor-anchor"><a class="external-lk rponsive-rtoon__image-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa RponsiveCartoonImage-hzNqyc ikeCcH rponsive-rtoon__image rponsive-image"><noscript><img alt="“If s any nsolatn that was an amazg imprsn of the kg.”" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src=" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 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ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv YsOBB button button--primary-pair RponsiveCartoonInButton-hBCBMq lpsjql" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="button"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN bBWXSg button__label">Shop</span><div class="ButtonInWrapper-gFdzAL bPDyTT button__in-ntaer"><svg class="in in-rt" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" xmlns="><tle>Shop</tle><g clip-path="url(#clip0_3732_178638)"><path fill-le="evenodd" clip-le="evenodd" d="M4 3H2V4H4.23828L6.99617 15.2631C7.11483 15.6982 7.50998 16 7.96094 16H18.0365C18.4875 16 18.8826 15.6982 19.0013 15.2631L20.9648 7.26312C21.1383 6.62698 20.6594 6 20 6H10V7H20L18.0365 15H7.96094L5.03652 3H4.58055H4ZM10.0365 19C10.0365 19.5523 9.58881 20 9.03652 20C8.48424 20 8.03652 19.5523 8.03652 19C8.03652 18.4477 8.48424 18 9.03652 18C9.58881 18 10.0365 18.4477 10.0365 19ZM11.0365 19C11.0365 20.1046 10.1411 21 9.03652 21C7.93195 21 7.03652 20.1046 7.03652 19C7.03652 17.8954 7.93195 17 9.03652 17C10.1411 17 11.0365 17.8954 11.0365 19ZM18.0365 19C18.0365 19.5523 17.5888 20 17.0365 20C16.4842 20 16.0365 19.5523 16.0365 19C16.0365 18.4477 16.4842 18 17.0365 18C17.5888 18 18.0365 18.4477 18.0365 19ZM19.0365 19C19.0365 20.1046 18.1411 21 17.0365 21C15.932 21 15.0365 20.1046 15.0365 19C15.0365 17.8954 15.932 17 17.0365 17C18.1411 17 19.0365 17.8954 19.0365 19Z" fill="black"></path></g><fs><clipPath id="clip0_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath><clipPath id="clip1_3732_178638"><rect width="24" height="24" fill="whe"></rect></clipPath></fs></svg></div></button></div></div></div></span></div></figure><p class="paywall">“What Do I Do When My Fah Needs Fah?”—that was the sermon for the day. Tonéx said, “This is for the sat that says, ‘I hate my life and sucks,’ ” and he built gradually om explitn to exclamatn. There was prererd gospel mic, wh a dmmer and an anist playg along, and Tonéx, rryg a rdls microphone, went back to the sound board, where he fiddled wh the mix while liverg a repeated exhortatn: “I know that God is able!” He returned to the pulp, shoutg now, and sgg praise, and worshippers were startg to weep or llapse or dance; a woman a long jean skirt was nng laps, and hers moved swiftly to prevent mid-aisle llisns. “This church has been need of a breakthrough,” Tonéx said. He was pleased by the rponse, and perhaps also by the timg of —he certaly knew that there was a reporter the hoe. But, even as he hugged the sats and watched them cmple to the floor, he held somethg rerve, as if he were still tryg to figure out how all worked, and whether did.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="4o6dnp"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">The day’s real msage was not, fact, about how fah nquers all but, rather, a nsiratn of fah’s lims. “This is the season you are thorized to say no,” he said. He offered a predictn, and a dispensatn: “Between now and Febary, will be the time when you need to pour to yourself.” A few people nodd. “The church are a drought right now,” he said. The sats were shoutg their assent, but Tonéx wasn’t really talkg to them. In fact, he might have been talkg about leavg them. “You only have enough oil your lamp to keep <em>yourself</em> saved,” he said. Later, he asked, “If this word blsed you, n you sow aga?” The rponse was slow, so he tried aga. “Come on, everybody, sow at least five dollars,” he said. “Last Sunday, we raised five hundred dollars, so that might have kept <em>this</em> row of lights on.”</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx’s rival, Pastor Carter, suggts that Tonéx might have done better, and done more good, as a travellg evangelist, tourg and spreadg the word, churchls. The ngregatn at Tth Apostolic has dangeroly few of the fancially secure senrs whose loyal th help keep a lot of church afloat; many weeks, Tonéx, too, wonrs if ’s worth . Asked if he would keep pastorg, he ma eye ntact and said, “You’re here right now the middle of I-don’t-know-ville.” In his mistry, as his mic, Tonéx offers only a promise to be te to himself. And listeners n’t ask for much more than that—but perhaps worshippers n.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">It was past midnight Lemon Grove, and Tonéx was the stud, gettg ready to rerd his vols over a boomg funk beat, wh a snare roll spired by Southern hip-hop. The song was an updated versn of “Twelve Gat to the Cy,” a gospel standard based on a scriptn of Jesalem om Revelatns 21. The song was both a nod to gospel history and a reproach to crics who have acced Tonéx of abandong the genre. Boston was asleep one rner, and his assistant me and went—there was no soundproofg, and Tonéx didn’t seem too worried about background noise. Stg at the mixg board, he leaned to the microphone and sang, “Shaka-laka, shaka-laka, shaka-laka, boom.” Workg quickly, he moved the blkg cursor back and sang the phrase aga and aga, each time wh a different tune. After a few mut, he played back what he had created: a rich and precise gospel harmony. He uld almost have been back that Oak Park livg room, nductg a choir of one.</p><p class="paywall">Tonéx has a new mixtape on the way, a tribute to Ja and Michael Jackson, and he is tryg to make a name for himself as a pop songwrer and producer. He also has a new album that he has promised to release early this year; ’s lled “A Brilliant Catastrophe,” and he says ’s his most amb work sce “Out the Box,” though he don’t yet know what rerd label, if any, will release . (One of the songs on the album is lled “The Details”; ’s a tense and sensual—though not que genr-specific—monologue sung the voice of a spic lover.) He wants to turn his life story to a mil (he got strong reviews for a recent turn a San Diego productn of “Dreamgirls”), he has signed on wh a mollg agency, and he is figurg out how to cultivate his growg ntgent of same-genr-lovg fans. By talkg plaly about his sexual inty, Tonéx has scrambled his profsnal inty. Almost sce the day he got saved, he has been a preacher, a gospel sger, a ttifier. Now he is merely a mil prodigy wh lots of optns, none easy. And, on December 28th, his mother died; she was his strongt nnectn to the old Pentestal world, which was once the only world he knew.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">In the stud, Tonéx works fast and alone— the urse of three hours, he never looked puzzled, and he hardly ever erased anythg. He laid down a multracked chos, a uple of short vers about Heaven, and some ad-libs; the end rult was a quirky and profoundly funky gospel song, plete wh neteen tracks of overdubbed vols, all of them his. There were lyrics about an aspirg gospel songwrer (“Wrote a song about Heaven / But he jt uldn’t get that big break”) and, near the end, a betiful yollg terlu. “This is a good low-rir song—like, top down,” Tonéx said. He played through one last time, at top volume, and then dashed to his office, where he slapped together a rerd ver, g a photograph om a fashn magaze of a whe man a Calv Kle su. He lled the song “12,” upload to his MySpace page, e-mailed to a few gospel-rad d.j.s who still support him, and sent out an exuberant msage to his followers on Twter: “New Jot hot off the prs om TON3X™.” ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="t7yx8"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/2010/02/08" data-reactroot="">Febary 8, 2010</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/kelefa-sanneh"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/kelefa-sanneh">Kelefa Sanneh</a> has been a staff wrer at The New Yorker sce 2008. He is the thor of “<a href=">Major Labels: A History of Popular Mic Seven Genr</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="TagCloudWrapper" class="TagCloudWrapper-gGgndx ctyZyK ContentFooterTagCloud-krQmRG ZLGh"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudSectnHear-cOforY iUEiRd bPyAoD kQQRmu">More:</span><a href="/tag/christians" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TagCloudName-eAUnLd iUEiRd gwIVBQ bUkXwu">Christians</span></a><a href="/tag/divorce" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM TagCloudLk-kvjZFu iUEiRd ggMZaT gFob hIhJOI"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd 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summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR eOCboB hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">A Reporter at Large</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Iphigenia Fort Hills</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Iphigenia Fort Hills" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Anatomy of a murr trial.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Ja Mallm</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Transn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of History</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Transn</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Transn" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Lyndon Johnson and the events Dallas.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Robert A. Caro</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blood Ti" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Crime</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Blood Ti</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blood Ti" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Two brilliant llege lovers were nvicted of a btal slayg. All the years later, why has the se bee a e?</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Nathan Heller</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Chameleon" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Annals of Crime</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Chameleon</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Chameleon" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The many liv of Frédéric Bourd.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" 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