The year is 2001. A 22-year-old Will Young is auditioning for Pop Idol, a precursor to shows like American Idol, The X Factor and The Voice. Although he had the confidence and stage presence of a seasoned professional, I wonder if the British lad knew that 21 years later, he would be the owner of eight top 10 albums in The UK – 4 of them being #1 debuts and 5 of them being multi-platinum certified. Now, a 43-year-old Young just released his fourth greatest hits album, ‘20 Years: The Greatest Hits,’ on May 27th 2022.
A new single to lead the greatest hits album, ‘Why Does It Hurt,’ made its mark on the UK Official Single’s chart. It’s safe to say that Will Young is a very busy, happy and out man, but he still found the time to sit down with Pink News for a length interview. Below I’ve included the parts of his interview as they pertain to his sexuality. However, you can read the entire interview for yourselves here.
Young comments on a tabloid trying to out him when he won Pop Idol:
I wasn’t confused by it, but I suppose my point was deliberately to not make a point about it. I thought that would be the most powerful thing to do in a way, turning it back on people and going: “What’s the big deal?” I’m pleased I did that. I don’t think it was easy, now I look back on it. I did get a lot of abuse. I’m not quite sure how I managed to get through that, really, but I suppose all gay people at that time were just used to getting abuse so it wasn’t like it was out of the blue. It’s only now looking back on it, because times have changed, that I think: “God, how awful for so many of us that we had to go through that.” And it makes me even more proud to be gay and proud of my community.
When asked about how the media treats LGBT artists now compared to 20 years ago, the ‘Leave Right Now’ crooner said:
I have to remind myself – I can’t believe we’ve gotten to this day where people don’t care. People will have different stories I’m sure, but I hope that no one has to go through what people like myself had to go through. Also let’s not forget other complete icons who I think are often forgotten. People like Andy Bell, Jimmy Somerville. These people are heroes, and I don’t think they’re spoken about enough. People think about George Michael, Boy George, and that’s brilliant, but actually people like Jimmy and Andy, they were flying the flag and they didn’t give a shit. I can’t imagine what that was like. They should be knighted.
’20 Years: The Greatest Hits’ is available to buy or stream on most platforms now.
Follow Will Young on Twitter here.
Source: Pink News
Since I found out he’s gay I’ve been following his music & career, love him.