Music - Before American Idol, before there were gay TV networks, before Justin Timberlake's solo career, before Adam Lambert, when the only gay pop stars you ever heard of were the ones who came out, or were pushed out, after they were already famous, there was Ari Gold, the world's first openly gay pop star.

"I wanted to make the kind of music that I didn't have growing up," he said after the release of his eponymous debut album in 2000, a recording that boldly asserted the use of male pronouns in its lyrics.

Billboard Magazine, VIBE, HITS and virtually every local and national gay publication around the world documented a moment in pop music history, when a recording and performing artist wasn't afraid to stand up for who he was both in his life and in his art. Gay icons and industry luminaries like Clive Davis, RuPaul, Boy George, and Whoopi Goldberg, soon took notice of Gold's important voice for breaking down barriers without prior fame, "Idol" and without hiding in the closet.

After three studio albums, a 96-page photo book and remix CD (released in 25 countries), four Billboard Top 40 dance hits (two Top 10), five No. 1 videos on the LOGO network (more than any other artist in LOGO's history), numerous awards and honors (Independent Music Award, two Outmusic Awards, Grand Prize Winner Of the USA Songwriting Competition, OUT 100, etc.) and his live performances in Europe, Canada, and over 50 cities in the U.S., it looks like 2010 will be Gold's biggest year yet with his fourth studio album. Already, a future single off the album has been featured on ABC's new hit TV show, Cougar Town, with Courtney Cox.



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