Part 1: Our Hall of Fame

k.d. lang has always played by her own rules. She’s a Canadian singer who made it big in Nashville, a rising star who went mainstream and was later embraced by indie circles, and maybe most importantly, an openly gay celebrity before it was such a thing.

At the height of her fame in the early ’90s, lang came out on the cover of The Advocate. She always seems fearless — maybe that’s part of the reason the public embraced her after the announcement and turned the album Ingenue into a mega-hit.

She’s no longer perceived as simply a “gay artist,” just a critically acclaimed one. Her velvet voice is heard on soundtracks, albums, and talk shows, and her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” at the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics was unforgettable. She’s done so much since that 1992 interview and always seemed so comfortable in her own skin that it’s easy to forget how brave she was for speaking the truth two decades ago. Here’s to long memories.
— Neal Broverman