Allow
me to preface this by saying that I'm a straight Black dude. I know
you have to be careful when writing or talking about things
especially when talking to people you don't know about things you
aren't. I just wanna point out that this is Pride Month and talk
about someone who I'm a fan of and a while ago read about and thought
“Holy shit. This dude was bold as fuck.” And that person is
Sylvester James Jr. better known as the singer Sylvester. If you don't
know who Sylvester is then shame on you because he made some awesome
ass songs.
Sylvester
was born on September 6th, 1947 in Watts, California. Read that again
and let it sink in. If you said he was born in Watts 1987 and you
knew about Watts back then you'd go “Yeesh.” Sylvester sang at
church growing up before leaving after a combination of the church
being against his sexuality and a sexual relationship with an older
member of the church. This was when he was 13 years old so it is now
about 1960. In his early teens after not being able to get along with
his mother and stepfather he left becoming homeless.
He
would spend time with his grandmother who had no problem with his
sexuality and visit his family occasionally. Still in his teens he
started to gain friends on the gay Black community. I'll remind you.
This is in the 60's in America. Sylvester started hanging with a
group of friends called the Disquotays. They would throw huge parties
and dress up as women. He ended up graduating at the age of 21 and I
wish I could find a photo of what they said he wore in it. While his
friends began to realize that they were trans and others stopping
with cross-dressing Sylvester decided to go with an androgynous
style. He was invited by the Cockettes after getting tired of the Los
Angeles scene and became a member. He began to drift away from the
group as he was one of the few Black members and did not exactly dig
their style. He began to get his own following singing soul and
blues. If you've ever heard him sing you know he can reach highs and
super lows with his voice. Sometimes using three or more voices in a
single song.
Jumping
ahead to the early 70's Sylvester had a group called Sylvester and The
Hot Band with The Pointer Sisters as background singers. There was
not much success with this and he started The 4 A's. Sylvester ended
up auditioning and hiring The Weather Girls (“It's Raining Men”)
and they performed together and recorded his self titled album and
Step II. Sylvester enjoyed quite a lot of popularity, toured
overseas, returned and was on TV shows. The tie between homosexuality
and disco came to a head when disco began to die out and was attacked
by rock fans. Why can't you like both? I do. “My sexuality has
nothing to do with my music. When I'm fucking I'm not thinking about
singing and vice versa” he once said.
In
1985 Sylvester's boyfriend knew that he himself now had HVI/AIDS and
passed away in 1987 from it. Sylvester figured that he had to have it
as well but refused to have his blood tested but began to have a
cough that would not stop. He continued to perform but eventually got
too sick to keep going. He was diagnosed eventually after having a
surgery in 1987. He was taken care of by his mother before ending up
in the hospital for pneumonia in 1988. People threw tributes to him
that he could not attend and spoke to media about the impact that
AIDS was having particularly in the Black community. After a series
of more illnesses he passe away December 16th, 1988 at the age of 41.
In his will he left all his future royalties to San Francisco-based
HIV/AIDS charities.
Sylvester was quoted as saying “I
realize that gay people have put me on a pedestal and I love it.
After all, of all the oppressed minorities, they just have to be the
most oppressed. They have all the hassles of finding something or
someone to identify with and they chose me. I like being around gay
people and they've proven to be some of my closest friends and most
loyal audiences.” It is nuts to me to think of someone doing all
that he did in a relatively short amount of time particularly in the
time period he was doing it in. It was hard enough being Black during
that time let alone an openly gay one even within his own community
of gay people. “I get this conformist shit from queens all the
time. They always want to read me. They always want me to do it their
way. I am not going to conform to the gay lifestyle as they see it
and that's for sure.”
That's
all I got for now. If I can think of someone else I wanna write about
I will. Take care.
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