June 6th: Elton John
Date of Birth: March 25th, 1947
Genre: Classic Rock
What he identifies as: Gay
Where is he from: England
Elton John is a famous classic rock singer and pianist who’s made songs like “Bennie and the Jets,” “Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting,” “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Crocodile Rock.” Elton John had his heyday in the 1970s, when he befriended John Lennon. The two recorded “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” together and Elton believed the song would hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Lennon doubted this, he hadn’t had such a hit before as a solo artist, so the two came to a wager, if it did, Lennon would play with Elton on stage in Madison Square Garden. The song became Lennon’s only #1 Billboard Hot 100 of his solo career during his lifetime, so he performed “Whatever Gets You Through The Night,” “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” (a Beatles cover Elton John did John Lennon helped with by providing guitar and backing vocals under the pseudonym "Dr. Winston O'Boogie" The "Winston" being John Lennon's Birth middle name due to him being born in 1940) and “I Saw Her Standing There,” which Lennon credited to his “jilted fiancée, Paul.” Elton John wrote “Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)” in response to the murder of John Lennon, showing their close friendship, and in the 90s, wrote the songs for “The Lion King.” He has recently embarked on his farewell tour.
Recommended Songs: Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me, The Bitch Is Back, Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting, Philadelphia Freedom, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Pinball Wizard (The Who cover for "Tommy" movie), Whatever Gets You Through the Night (with John Lennon), Snookeroo (from Ringo Starr's Goodnight Vienna album, piano only, co-wrote the song), I Saw Her Standing There (live with John Lennon), Crocodile Rock/Get Back/Back in the USSR (live in Moscow, 1979), Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny), Ordinary Man (with Ozzy Osbourne)
June 7th: Doug/Dug Pinnick/King’s X/KXM
Date of Birth: September 3rd, 1950
Genre: Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
What he identifies as: Gay
Where is he from: Illinois, USA
Moved ahead due to recent events requiring this guy get more out about him information sooner. Doug Pinnick (also spelled Dug or dUg), started as the bass player/lead singer of heavy metal band King’s X. They are sometimes called a Christian Metal band, and Doug Pinnick certainly made connections with people in Christian Metal, namely Ted Kirkpatrick, animal rights activist, drummer and brain behind Christian Thrash Metal band Torniquet. Pinnick has sung on at least one of Torniquet’s albums (The song "No Soul" on the album "Onward to Freedom") and also played bass for Ted Fitzpatrick’s tribute to Black Sabbath released in 2016, entitled “The Doom in Us All.” This album also featured WWE wrestler/Fozzy Frontman Chris Jericho singing “War Pigs” and metal journeyman Tim “Ripper” Owens singing “Children of the Grave.” Pinnick has also formed two supergroups, KXM with Ray Luzier from Korn and George Lynch of Dokken and Lynch Mob fame, and Pinnick Gales Pridgen with blues guitarist Eric Gales and drummer Thomas Pridgen, who has worked with Eric Gales outside the project as well as Jada Pinkett Smith. Doug Pinnick came out in the 2000s, which strained his relationship with Christianity and he now identifies as agnostic. His low-slung vocals make him worth listening to and he has created great covers of old psychedelic rock songs.
June 8th: Billy Preston:
Date of Birth: September 2nd, 1946
Date of Death: June 6th, 2006
Genre: Classic Rock/Gospel/Soul
What he Identified As: Gay
Where was he from: Los Angeles, CA
Moved ahead due to recent events requiring this guy get more out about him information sooner. Billy Preston was a renowned keyboard player famous for his friendship to George Harrison. This allowed him to play keyboards for The Beatles’ sessions that became the albums “Let it Be” and “Abbey Road.” Preston also received a contract to the Beatles’ Apple Records, recording several albums for them, even covering several Beatles songs while doing so. One of his finest moments was playing keyboard at the Concert for Bangladesh, where he got to sing his song “That’s the Way God Planned It,” even dancing on stage for the last chorus. Preston earned the nickname “The Black Beatle” for his contributions to the "Get Back" sessions and "Abbey Road" sessions, even playing keyboard during the rooftop concert, and was a frequent contributor to the solo albums of George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr. Preston had difficulty reconciling his orientation with his spiritual beliefs, made harder by his good friend Sly Stone having an affair with his girlfriend at a time when the two were working together, leading to Preston struggling with drug abuse. He confessed his orientation to Keith Richards, and it wasn’t made public until not long before his death.
Recommended discography: Abbey Road (Tracks-Something, I Want You (She’s So Heavy)), I've Got A Feeling (Beatles cover from his album "Encouraging Words"), That’s The Way God Planned It, All Things Must Pass, Concert for Bangladesh, Ringo (Track-I’m the Greatest), Blackbird (Beatles cover), Get Back (cover of a Beatles song he worked on for Sgt. Pepper's movie), 1-(Tracks-Get Back, Something, Let It Be) Let it Be…Naked
June 9th: Brandi Carlile
Date of Birth: June 1st, 1981
Genre: Alternative Folk, Country
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Ravensdale, Seattle Area, WA
I first heard of Brandi Carlile when my local newspaper interviewed her about an upcoming album of hers back in my high school days (2003-2007), I believe for her 2005 release. It wasn’t until Cover Stories that I was finally able to get a taste of her songwriting, which was truly impressive, since both Dolly Parton and Pearl Jam contributed covers of songs from “The Story.” When I got Spotify, I had the ability to listen to her music without any boundaries, so I listened to as much of it as I could. What I found was a rich, deep, down-South soul from Washington State, an environmentalist who loved her wife deeply and challenged us to treat our families with the dignity and respect they deserve and had deep respect and love for her own. She covered Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and would freely collaborate with many musicians, such as Sam Smith, Sheryl Crow and creating The Highwomen with three other young country-singing women (one of whom is Amanda Shires). She also contributed a heartfelt song to Disney-Pixar’s “Onward,” released earlier this year and is always worth listening to. Brandi is married to a woman named Catherine, who will sometimes show up at her Seattle-based concerts and duet with her.
Recommended songs; Mainstream Kid, Folsom Prison Blues (Live, Johnny Cash cover), O Holy Night, All You Need Is Love, The Joke, Most Of All, Party Of One (feat. Sam Smith), Beware of Darkness (with Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton and Sting), Highwomen (with The Highwomen), Redesigning Women (with The Highwomen), If She Ever Leaves Me (with The Highwomen), Crowded Table (with The Highwomen), Carried Me With You, My Song (Live at Neumos), Creep (Live, Radiohead cover)
June 10th: Hayley Kiyoko
Date of Birth: April 3rd, 1991
Genre: Pop
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Los Angeles, CA
You may recognize the name Hayley Kiyoko if you were a big Disney Channel or Cartoon Network fan in the late 2000s/early 2010s. Hayley Kiyoko was an actress before starting her singing career, having a recurring role as a wizard on Wizards of Waverly Place, appearing in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth and playing Velma in a pair of live action Scooby-Doo movies that depicted the origins of Mystery Inc. Kiyoko then went on to be a singer, coming out when she began writing more overt love songs. A Political Activist, Kiyoko will give out information to register to vote at her shows.
Recommended Songs: Girls Like Girls, I Wish, L.O.V.E. Me, demons, Runaway, Sleepover, Mr. Brightside (Amazon.com exclusive at this time)
June 11th: Kim Petras
Date of Birth: August 27th, 1992
Genre: Pop
What she identifies as: Transgender (was born male and has gone through gender reassignment surgery)
Where was she born: Germany
If you just saw a picture of Kim Petras or heard her music, you would never suspect she had been born male. Her parents state she began insisting she was a girl as young as two years old, and being from the progressive country of Germany meant transitioning to be a woman was less of an issue than it is in the States, though it was probably still an issue, since I know Naoko Takeuchi encountered resistance in Japan when she unveiled the lesbian couple Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune in the Sailor Moon S show, not just the United States. She moved to Los Angeles to begin her music career and sings entirely in English with no discernable accent in a soprano. An experience with a cashier during some retail therapy inspired her first single, I Don't Want It At All, which espouses "retail therapy," the belief you can spend your problems away, and she continues to record and perform.
Recommended Songs: Malibu (Actually not a Miley Cyrus cover), Reminds Me, I Don’t Want It At All, Broken Glass (with Kygo)
June 12th: Vicky Beeching
Date of Birth: July 17th, 1979
Genre: Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music
What she identifies as: Lesbian
Where is she from: Canterbury, Kent, England
Vicky Beeching (Vicky being short for Victoria, by the way), is an inspiration to Christian Allies like me. She was raised in a tough, rigid background that despised the idea that people could be gay and blamed Sodom and Gomorrah on homosexuality. One of her few outlets was music, which her Church did allow, it was Pentecostal. She bought a Fender Telecaster and went to Oxford, becoming a songwriter and growing very knowledgeable in Scripture and herself. She even wrote in her autobiography there was a lamppost and in Winter, it looked like the entrance to Narnia, which makes sense since she was on the same campus CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien attended when they went to college. Vicky released at least three inspiring albums of the love God has for us, but there were some songs born from the fears instilled in her, where she would ask to be changed. Eventually, in her 30s, she was developing stress-related problems from keeping her sexual orientation a secret which could’ve led to her death if she didn't stop the stressors, so in 2011, she came out. While it cost her the music career, she was able to be free to be the person she is and date women for the first time, so she doesn’t regret it at all. I encourage Christian allies of the LGBTQ+ community to seek out a CD of hers, there is wonderful music on each one. She is also one of the friendliest famous people I've met on Twitter and "liked" my post about the reveal of Tracer of Overwatch's orientation. This is dated to two years to the day after the release of her autobiography (6/12/2018).
Recommended Albums; Yesterday, Today and Forever, Painting the Invisible, Eternity Invades
Favorite Song from Each: Yesterday; Yesterday, Today and Forever, Painting; The Wonder Of The Cross, Eternity; Deliverer
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