There have been rumors for weeks about a high-profile celeb coming out in early May in People magazine. It turns out it will reportedly be country singer Chely Wright, who may not be a household name, but some of her songs have sold big numbers.
Born in Kansas City in 1970, Wright starting making it big in the late 1990s with songs like "Shut Up and Drive" and "Single White Female." She's even more well-known as a songwriter for some top singers including Clay Walker, Brad Paisley, Richard Marx and Mindy Smith.
Her seventh album, Lifted Off the Ground, came out May 4, along with her autobiography, Like Me. It's in the book where she reportedly comes out.
Her own fansite, www.chely.com, is a bit cryptic, probably because of an exclusive with People magazine. It reads in part:
"While it's fair to say that Lifted Off the Ground was five years in the making, the process began with an unmaking—a breakup leading to what she describes as a breakdown on the way to her ultimate breakthrough. The resulting songs required an acutely sensitive producer to blossom into life, and Wright considers herself extremely fortunate to have had Rodney Crowell come into her life at the critical moment. It's little wonder she calls him 'Shep,' short for "Song Shepherd" ( in turn, he calls her Richell, her given name, just as a big brother might ) , because he was with her every step of the way during the course of those five years, prodding her, encouraging her, pulling her back from the edge of the abyss more than once. ... Seized by emotions she neither understood nor had any control over, Chely obsessively strummed her treasured Gibson guitar till her fingers were as raw as her psyche."
Wright claims she did not come out before because there were no other out country singers; however, k.d. lang paid a high price for being an out and proud lesbian country singer many years, and she probably could have used the support outside the closet doors.
Chely Wright, Acclaimed Country Singer, Comes Out as Lesbian
LOS ANGELES, May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Singer/songwriter Chely Wright — a celebrated figure in country music both for her artistry and her performances in front of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — admits in her memoir, LIKE ME: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer ( Pantheon Books ) , to keeping her sexuality a secret from her family, friends, fellow artists, and fans. Simultaneously, with her memoir, Chely released her new record, Lifted off the Ground, produced by Rodney Crowell, a very personal album that was five years in the making.
Wright, who was recognized by the Academy of Country Music as the Top New Female Vocalist in 1995 and has been featured in People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list, has sold over one million records in her career and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country charts with the song "Single White Female."
"No one like me in country music has ever admitted his or her homosexuality," says Wright. "There are gays in Nashville, but as far as anyone is led to believe, they are not those of us on magazine covers. How could I be gay? Well, I am." With that Chely Wright sets the fearlessly candid tone that permeates her memoir, becoming the first openly gay country music artist.
[ k.d. lang, who started as mainly a country star, was a very out and proud lesbian, something Wright does seem to ignore by stating "no one like me"; lang paid a high price, being ostracized by the industry. ]
LIKE ME follows Chely Wright from her childhood in Kansas, where she prayed to God three times a day to keep her from "sinning," to being cast in Country Music USA's Opryland ( her first break ) , to Nashville and her first record, and finally to the successes that followed. Her accomplishments came at a price — lies of omission, personal shame, and struggles with integrity — but it was a price she chose to endure in order to live her dream and become a country music star. This month, with the publication of her no-holds-barred memoir, LIKE ME, and the release of a new album, Lifted off the Ground, Chely Wright is finally living her truth. "I am standing up for myself, because if I don't, I will never be whole. That my story might help others find comfort, safety, and understanding is a beautiful by-product of truth."
Lifted off the Ground is Chely Wright's seventh studio album and first on Vanguard Records, Produced by Rodney Crowell, the record includes eleven songs all written by Chely except for the song "Heavenly Days," which she co-wrote with Crowell.
Five years in the making, the process for this album began with an unmaking—a breakup leading to what Chely describes as a breakdown on the way to her ultimate breakthrough. The result is a remarkable song cycle of a woman climbing inch by inch out of a deep hole into the sunlight, from the one-two gut punch of the opening tandem of "Broken" and "Heavenly Days," through the rocking, wicked-clever black comedy "Notes to the Coroner" the crystalline dreamscape "Snow Globe" and the revelatory "Like Me," to the closing "Shadows of Doubt," which could serve as Wright's credo. "Those songs and my bicycle saved my life," she says.
About Chely Wright
Chely Wright released her debut album, "Woman in the Moon," in 1994 and won the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Female Vocalist in 1995. Since then, she has released seven studio albums with more than fifteen singles hitting the Country charts. In 1997, Chely released, "Shut Up and Drive," her first Top 40 single on the Country charts. In 1999, she scored her first #1 song with "Single White Female." Over the years, Chely has received numerous awards and nominations from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. Chely Wright is also the founder of the Reading, Writing and Rhythm Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to improving education in America's public schools. RW&R has donated musical instruments and funds to schools nationwide and works year round to raise public awareness of the importance of music education and safe learning environments for our nation's youth. She currently lives in New York City.
