Diana Ross 'Didn't Unrstand' Why 'I'm Comg Out' Was a Gay Anthem

Contents:

• DIANA ROSS DIDN'T KNOW 'I'M COMG OUT' WAS A 'GAY THG,' ACRDG TO PRODUCER NILE RODGERS
• NILE RODGERS: DIANA ROSS DIDN’T KNOW ‘I’M COMG OUT’ WAS ‘A GAY THG’
• DIANA ROSS DIDN’T KNOW “I’M COMG OUT” WAS A GAY THG
• NILE RODGERS SAYS DIANA ROSS “DIDN’T UNRSTAND THAT ‘I’M COMG OUT’ WAS A GAY THG”

DIANA ROSS DIDN'T KNOW 'I'M COMG OUT' WAS A 'GAY THG,' ACRDG TO PRODUCER NILE RODGERS

We were maybe 23, and I heard Donna Summer sgg Love to Love You Baby and I heard Eddie Kendricks’ Girl You Need a Change of Md, and I saw gay people dancg wh straight people and black people and whe people and Asian people and Lato people, and I saw they were dog this dance lled the Htle and everybody seemed to know how to do .

"I'm Comg Out, " om Diana Ross's Diana album, is perhaps the apex of gay anthems. "She didn't unrstand that that was a gay thg, that that was a person sayg, 'I'm g out of the closet, '" said Rodgers.

"Rodgers said he ultimately nvced Ross to sg the track, argug would make the perfect opener for an entertaer, addn to tablishg her as one of the greatt gay ins. ' and 'One night a dis on the outskirts of Fris, I was cisg…' The word 'cisg' those days was sort of taboo bee maly the people who cised were gay people, hardre.

NILE RODGERS: DIANA ROSS DIDN’T KNOW ‘I’M COMG OUT’ WAS ‘A GAY THG’

It pecially ronat wh the gay populatn, sce the ia of creatg your fay among your gay brothers and sisters and alli is what kept many of alive durg the years. Addg, "But [Ross] didn't unrstand that that was a gay thg, that that was a person sayg, I'm g out of the closet.

" Ross may have not known then but she fully embraced the song and what meant to the LGBTQ muny, who celebrate her as a gay in.

DIANA ROSS DIDN’T KNOW “I’M COMG OUT” WAS A GAY THG

But Rodgers and Edwards helped make that superstar she brighter than ever: Ross’ classic “Diana” album — released 40 years ago on May 22, 1980 — went on to bee the bt-sellg LP of her reer wh hs such as “Upsi Down” and the gay anthem “I’m Comg Out. ” “But she didn’t unrstand that that was a gay thg, that that was a person sayg, ‘I’m g out of the closet, ’ ” says Rodgers.

“He thought that that would be Diana sayg that she was gay, ” says Rodgers. Mic producer Nile Rodgers said mic dtry legend, Diana Ross didn’t know I’m Comg Out was “a gay thg” an terview wh the New York Post.

NILE RODGERS SAYS DIANA ROSS “DIDN’T UNRSTAND THAT ‘I’M COMG OUT’ WAS A GAY THG”

Rodgers and Edwards helped make that superstar even more succsful wh her classic Diana album – released 40 years ago on May 22, 1980 – which went on to bee the bt-sellg LP of her reer wh hs such as Upsi Down and the gay anthem I’m Comg Out.

“But she didn’t unrstand that that was a gay thg, that that was a person sayg, ‘I’m g out of the closet, ’” says Rodgers.