Current:Home > Contact'I've been trying to do this for over 30 years' — Billy Porter sings on his terms -MoneyBase
'I've been trying to do this for over 30 years' — Billy Porter sings on his terms
View
Date:2025-04-15 05:44:30
Billy Porter has won a Grammy, an Emmy and a few Tonys since his breakout role on Broadway with 2013's Kinky Boots. For the FX show Pose, he was the first openly gay Black man to win an Emmy as lead actor.
But when he first came to national prominence after winning 1992's TV talent competition Star Search -- Porter obeyed the guidance at the time: hide your queerness. For his modern-day fans, he's almost unrecognizable in this video from his 1997 debut album.
"I've been trying to do this for over 30 years," Billy Porter told Morning Edition host Leila Fadel. "The industry was very homophobic at the time. I was not welcomed. I was actually put out."
Billy Porter just released a new album on his own terms --- with songs that often serve as little autobiographies — called Black Mona Lisa.
Porter says it took years for his career to recover. "Everybody told me that my queerness would be my liability. And it was four decades. Now it's actually my superpower."
The song "Children" has been with Porter for years now; it's become a favorite among his fans. Porter says, "'Children' is about facing your haters. You know, facing the people that set out to destroy entire swaths of people."
In his song "I'm Not Ashamed Anymore," he sings:
"I know I was strong enough/ To make a better life for me/ Than prayin' up, every day of my life/ I learned to never let the devil ever win/ But it took me some time."
It's just one of the references to his upbringing in the Pentecostal church — and its rejection of him. "Unfortunately, the first thing that the religious right likes to try and take away from queer people is God," he says. And he's been working on his spiritual life ever since leaving the church. "I believe that religion is manmade; spirituality is divine. I've been staying in the divine space."
Billy Porter's path to this freedom finds joyful expression on Black Mona Lisa. It's basically the album he wish he had when he was growing up. "The world has changed," he says. "The change has already happened. That's what I try to focus on in my work, because art can heal the traumas that we endure. And I want to be a part of the healing."
Mansee Khurana produced the audio version of this story.
veryGood! (1998)
Related
- Could Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft reunite? Maybe in Pro Football Hall of Fame's 2026 class
- Egypt’s leader el-Sissi slams Ethiopia-Somaliland coastline deal and vows support for Somalia
- ‘Mean Girls’ fetches $11.7M in second weekend to stay No. 1 at box office
- Ancient temple filled with gold and silver jewels discovered in Greece
- IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
- Congo captain Chancel Mbemba subjected to online racist abuse after Africa Cup game against Morocco
- 11-month-old baby boy burned to death from steam of radiator in Brooklyn apartment: NYPD
- Two opposition leaders in Senegal are excluded from the final list of presidential candidates
- A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
- Missing Navy SEALs now presumed dead after mission to confiscate Iranian-made weapons
Ranking
- John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
- YouTubers Cody Ko and Kelsey Kreppel Welcome First Baby
- Michelle Trachtenberg Responds to Fans' Concerns Over Her Appearance
- Nick Dunlap becomes first amateur to win a PGA Tour event in 33 years at American Express
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Ancient temple filled with gold and silver jewels discovered in Greece
- Euphoria’s Dominic Fike Addresses His Future on Season 3
- Proposed federal law would put limits on use of $50 billion in opioid settlements
Recommendation
Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
Second tropical cyclone in 2 months expected to hit northern Australia coast
Milan keeper Maignan wants stronger action after racist abuse. FIFA president eyes tougher sanctions
David Gail, soap star known for 'Beverly Hills, 90210' and 'Port Charles,' dies at 58
'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
Party at a short-term rental near Houston turns deadly overnight
Military ends rescue search for Navy SEALs lost in maritime raid on ship with Iranian weapons
Poland’s prime minister visits Ukraine in latest show of foreign support for the war against Russia