Some Influential Queer Musicians of Colour
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest African-American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of blues singers to record. She has often been credited as "Mother of the Blues". Rainey was known for her powerful vocal abilities, energetic disposition, majestic phrasing, and a "moaning" style of singing. Her qualities are present and most evident in her early recordings "Bo-Weevil Blues" and "Moonshine Blues". The political activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis noted that "'Prove It on Me' is a cultural precursor to the lesbian cultural movement of the 1970s, which began to crystallize around the performance and recording of lesbian-affirming songs."
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording artist. She attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and rhythmic accompaniment that was a precursor of rock and roll. Tharpe's 1944 release "Down by the Riverside" was selected for the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress in 2004, which noted that it "captures her spirited guitar playing and unique vocal style, demonstrating clearly her influence on early rhythm-and-blues performers" and cited her influence on "many gospel, jazz, and rock artists". The United States Postal Service issued a 32-cent commemorative stamp to honor Tharpe on July 15, 1998.[32] In 2007, she was inducted posthumously into the Blues Hall of Fame. On December 13, 2017, she was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an Early Influence.
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Esquerita
Eskew Reeder, Jr. usually known by the stage name Esquerita, and occasionally as S.Q. Reeder or The Magnificent Malochi, was an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist, known for his frenetic performances. He has been credited with influencing rock and roll pioneer Little Richard. Reeder was a self-taught piano player whose roots were in gospel music. His music career started as a teenager, when he dropped out of high school and joined the gospel group "Heavenly Echoes" based in New York City. As Esquerita, he often wore heavy makeup, sunglasses, and two wigs, piling his pompadour high on his head.
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Arthur Conley
Arthur Lee Conley was a U.S. soul singer. He is best known for the 1967 hit Sweet Soul Music which shot to the number two spot on both the pop and R&B charts in America, earning Conley the number eleven male artist ranking for 1967.he relocated to England in 1975 and then spent several years in Belgium before settling in the Dutch village of Ruurlo and the cultural centre of Ganzenhoef (an extension southeast of Amsterdam) in 1980. He legally changed his name to Lee Roberts (his middle name and his mother's maiden name).
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June Millington
June Millington is a Filipino American guitarist, songwriter, producer, educator, and actress. She was the co-founder and lead guitarist of the all-female rock band Fanny, which was active from 1970 to 1974. Millington indicates that when she was 20 years old she knew she was a lesbian, and that while "everybody" associated with the band Fanny knew, at that time "you didn't talk about it". The Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA) was Millington's idea for how to empower women, especially women of color, in their pursuit of careers in the field of music, bridging the gap between women in the mainstream and in "women's music." IMA remains active as a multicultural nonprofit national teaching and performing arts organization, with Millington serving as Artistic Director.
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Billy Wright
Billy Wright was an American jump blues singer. Throughout his career, he was known as the "Prince of the Blues." He was a key figure in Atlanta blues after World War II and had a major influence on rock and roll pioneer Little Richard, whom he helped get his first recording contract. As a child, Wright excelled at singing gospel music in his local church. In his youth, he worked as a dancer and as a drag queen but developed as a singer when he began performing at Atlanta's 81 Theater. Wright was openly gay throughout most of his career.
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Felipe Rose
Felipe Rose was an original member of the disco group, the Village People from 1977 until 2017. He is half Latino and Native American. In 1970, when Rose was 16 years old, he won a scholarship to study dance with the Ballet de Puerto Rico under the guidance of Pascual Guzman. He participated in a dance-drama recital of Julia de Burgos at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with the Ballet Company. The New York Post called his performance "poignant and compelling." In 2002 he won a NAMMY Award for the Best Historical Recording.
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Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading is one of the first black female artists to have become popular in Great Britain. In a recording career spanning nearly 50 years, Armatrading has released 19 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations. She is a three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. In April 2011, The Shetland News reported that Armatrading and girlfriend Maggie Butler were to enter a civil partnership.
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Nona Hendryx
Nona Hendryx began her career 1962 with the vocalgroup Patti LaBelle And The Bluebells, which was later renamed LaBelle. They were described as futuristic disco-funk divas. Nona Hendryx wrote a number of songs for the band before their breakup in 1976 and she went on to pursue a solo career with her self-titled debut album the next year. Her music has ranged from soul, funk, and R&B to hard rock, new wave, and new-age. In 2001, she discussed her bisexuality in an interview with The Advocate magazine[14] and has become a gay-rights activist over the years.
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Sylvester
Sylvester was an American disco and soul musician, and a gay drag performer. Known for singing in falsetto (and occasionally a rich baritone voice), he is also considered one of the first Hi-NRG artists. On September 20, 2004 Sylvester's anthem record, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real), was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame. A year later, on September 19, 2005, Sylvester himself was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame for his achievement as an artist.
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Disclaimer: I'm aware this is not an extensive list, so if you know of any other queer people of colour who helped create spaces in the music industry — particularly trans women of colour, dont hesitate to comment and share them with us!!