OUTMusic Award to Ray Boltz

Recently, the OUTMusic Awards were given out in New York City. The awards were originally scheduled for last December, but after a sponsor pulled out at the last minute, they were rescheduled. While I didn't attend, I was happy to see afterwards that four of the 20 winners have already been featured on the blog. But before I get to them, I thought I would do a post for the only person to have won more than on award, Ray Boltz.



Boltz is perhaps best known for being a Gospel singer, a deeply religious man who was a celebrated performer on that circuit for nearly 20 years, before he announced to the world in 2008 that the husband of 30 years and a father of four children was gay. He announced that via an interview with the Washington Blade. It apparently created quite the storm on the Christian Music front, because it seems the people involved were not feeling very charitable or forgiving, the very tenets of Christianity, right? As we have all learned by now, there are those who proclaim their beliefs, yet gleefully ignore that whole 'judge not lest ye be judged' thing... Thankfully, Boltz never stopped making music.

Ray Boltz was named the winner of three OUTMusic Awards, the first not surprising in the slightest, OUTstanding Spiritual for the song I Will Choose To Love.



Boltz picked up his second trophy of the evening when he was named OUTstanding Songwriter of the Year for his defiant Don't Tell Me Who To Love.



His third and final award for the night was for OUTstanding Album of the Year, True. The 2010 release is a 13-song collection that includes the award-winning songs featured above. You can purchase the album on iTunes here, and on Amazon.com here. For more about Ray Boltz, check out his official website here. To get more information about the OUTMusic Awards, you can check out their website here. I will try to feature all the winners of OUTMusic Awards in the coming weeks.

Worth Another Listen - Spandau Ballet

Another of the leading forces of the New Romantic movement in the 80s, Spandau Ballet had great success in Europe, and was a staple on MTV and radio, but wasn't as successful on the US Charts. Led by singer Tony Hadley, Spandau Ballet saw most of their success in the mid 80s. Hadley was joined by Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Steve Norman and John Keeble. I was stunned to know their biggest hit, True, never hit #1, but stalled at #2, and their only Top 10 song on the US charts. The song was seemingly played non-stop in 1983, and still on the airwaves on a regular basis.

Spandau Ballet - True
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One of my favorite Spandau Ballet songs was Through The Barricades, part of the 1986 album of the same name. As always, Hadley's voice was so big and so true, although by '86 they had drifted from the New Wave/New Romantics and were pretty much a pop band.



Another of my favorites was from the 1983 album True, and came out prior to the single of the same name. It is Communication, a great song with an interesting video.



The band had gotten together in 1979, but by 1989 were showing the signs of the wear and tear. The Kemp brother, Martin and Gary, were getting acting jobs in movies, on stage, and on television, and some fights about who owned the music lead to a court battle. This lead to the announcement the band was calling it quits in 1990. The Kemp brothers continued to work on a regular basis, and Hadley tried his hand at a solo career, which was not as successful as anyone had hoped. He also tried his hand at acting, appearing on London's West End in Chicago, taking the lead as crooked lawyer Billy Flynn. However, in 2009, the band got back together and started a world tour. Tickets for the early shows in the UK sold out at an amazing rate, and lead to a new album, Once More, which featured reworked and updated version of some of the fan favorites, which was released in October. To find out what they have been up to, visit their official website here.