Top 5 LGBT Artists that Changed My Life

2. Freddie Mercury

Yeah, the only guy on my list. But, just as with Bessie Smith, this man’s voice is a masterpiece.

We all know about this god of glam rock. As the lead singer and composer of Queen, he created some of the most intense, graceful, and powerful rock music of the 70s. His vocal range is ridiculous, going from the throaty growl of a tenor to the piercing wail of a falsetto (reaching as high as the high F over middle C — yes, folks, the original dolphin). Any limitations I imagined a voice had were totally shattered like Willy Wonka’s glass ceiling when I heard this man sing as if his voice was made of liquid gold — flowing elegantly and without fear into his higher register.

Of course, as with most 80s babies with serious 90s nostalgia, my introduction to this man’s brilliance was via Wayne’s World. The now iconic scene in which Wayne, Garth and their buds are driving along to Bohemian Rhapsody is etched in my mind as the pinnacle of rock. The piano is haunting, the guitars are mighty, but it’s that voice that challenged everything my young mind understood about sound.

From there, I fell in love with any song that featured that golden throat, my favorite being Love of My Life, a touching ballad of excruciatingly simple majesty.