Country singer Chely Wright broke new ground in the genre when she publicly came out as a gay woman in 2007, and she’s set to grace the Indy Pride festival’s main stage on June 13. Two days earlier, she will headline the LGBT organization’s annual Girl Pride event, which is moving to The Vogue. Wright last performed in Indianapolis four years ago.
Wright notched her first No. 1 single with 1999’s “Single White Female” off the eponymous record. Previous and follow-up work includes the singles “Shut Up & Drive” and “Bumper of My SUV” and an autobiography, Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer. A subsequent film, Wish Me Away, chronicled Wright’s emergence as an openly gay performer and person.
Indy Pride’s June 5–13 week teems with events. Updates can be found here.
Here is Wright’s emotional interview with Ellen DeGeneres after her personal news broke in 2007:
She also sat down with Oprah Winfrey that year, saying about coming out, “I feel like I am about two weeks old.” Needless to say, Oprah was touched:
Wright is even more than skin-deep beauty, songs, and a remarkable life story. She’s got brains to boot, delivering a keynote address at a religion-meets-sexuality symposium in 2011:
