In the 70s Polly Perkins was about the only openly lesbian performer in England and in addition the 1977 album above, also had one (that I wish I had) called "Liberated Lady." One of her anthems was her song "Superdyke" (not sure if it was ever recorded), and she also wrote a book, "Songs For The Liberated Woman." In the early 90s she starred as Trish Valentine on the popular UK soap "Elderado." But my soft spot for her is her pop singles of the early 60s, especially her version of the Marlene Deitrich song "Falling In Love Again." CLICK for more info on Polly Perkins.

In 1965 on the British comedy series "Round The Horne" cast members Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick introduced their very camp characters Julian & Sandy. The public loved their adventures, which are still available in reissued CDs today, and back then they even inspired a book.

And the ever sexually ambiguous Morrissey paid homage to Polari in his 1990 song "Piccadilly Palare." Yes, there were variations in the spelling of Polari. In the song he talks about being on the meat rack and cruising, and being a "reasonably good buy"...oh, click here for the entire lyrics.

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Quotes from the Interview:

Having enjoyed a period of notoriety as an out gay pop singer in the 70s, shock, horror, he sleeps with men, I then bizaarrely had a further brush with the tabloids, where, shock, horror, man sleeps with woman

David Bowie had an incalculable effect on my life, because for the first time, at school, or among young people, you could be queer and you could be one of the good guys.

For the record I've never claimed to be anything other than gay. And it's only with reluctance that I came to about ten years later say, oh, sod it, you know, if living with a woman makes me bisexual, okay, I'm bisexual.

I'd have to say that my career as a queer musician really started with a suicide attempt

It wasn't until my early twenties, when David Bowie turned up and sang "You Are Not Alone." And suddenly on the bush telegraph you knew what that meant. "Oh You Pretty Things," "John, I'm Only Dancing"…you heard songs suddenly, for the first time, instead of being almost about your life, reflecting an emotional experience that you felt except all the pronouns were wrong, suddenly it was actually about your life, and I resolved to myself that if ever in the future I had an opportunity to do that for somebody else, to pass it on so the idea could spread, then I would do my damnest to do it.

"Britain's Number One Gay In Love With Girl Biker: My Passion for Blond," by Rocker Robinson.

And so I was infuriated by the fact that on the one hand the organizations that should have been campaigning for that were running little low-key discos in town where you could wear a "Glad To Be Gay" badge. Then you'd come out, hide the badge, and not do anything about what was going on in the streets to your brothers and sisters further down the road. So "Glad To Be Gay" was a bitterly ironic attack on the complacency of the gay community at the time, rather than a proclamation that one was glad to be gay.

In many ways one of my favorite gay songs of all the ones that I wrote that had a specifically openly amorously gay theme, I like "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again"

I've never claimed to be straight or to have turned straight, or to have stopped being queer in any sense whatsoever. It's merely an expansion. In addition to my repertoire I had added a further experience. Hey, all my lesbian friends had been telling me for years and years about how fabulous women were, and I found out in this particular instance they were dead right.

I always felt that the music had to come first, because nobody gives a toss what your political opinions are, or what your sexual politics are, if your music's rubbish.