About this Book

Gay men and women have been involved in making music since music was first made. But as John Gill observes, many of the central figures of twentieth century music have been forced to keep their sexuality a secret. Witty, opinionated, and occasionally outrageous, Gill's revealing, yet sensitive treatment of the lives of a host of performers - from Benjamin Britten and John Cage to Bessie Smith and Janis Joplin, from Billystrayhorn and Cecil Taylor to Sun Ra and the Pet Shop Boys - makes public what has always been known: that many of this century's greatest musicians are gay. Gill also examines the forces behind this "code of silence" - families and relatives, managers and business associates, journalists and critics, historians and musicologists, and the inner workings of the music industry itself.