Opening The Closet Door: 8 Singers Who Had To Deal With Speculation About Their Sexuality
Luther Vandross
For many years, people speculated about the sexuality of one of R&B’s greatest voices. There were very few music videos of the singer crooning to women, and people who called themselves friends of the singer publicly said he was struggling to live his life the way he wanted because of his worries of public opinion. In an Out magazine article, writer Bruce Vilanch had the following to say: “He had very few sexual contacts…He was way ‘in’ (the closet). He said to me, ‘No one knows I’m in the life.'” No matter what people thought of Vandross’ sexuality, it didn’t seem to have an effect on the fans he had or the albums he was able to sell. His talents were just too great to be overshadowed by rumors, even if they followed him to the grave.
