This week is a big one - we are celebrating the iconic The B52's. A band that paved the way for queer artists through their unapologetic on-stage identity and camp aesthetic. Their non-conformist attitude and unique sound has had a huge and lasting impact on rock and pop music - you can witness their influence on artists from Boy George to Chappell Roan. Jake credits them with the very existence of The Scissor Sisters and was thrilled to speak to one of his all-time musical heroes Kate Pierson for this special episode.

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Joining Jake Shears for this episode are Abigail and Georgia from one of the most talked-about bands of the moment…The Last Dinner Party.

2024 was a huge year for them; they landed a deal with Island Records, released their critically acclaimed debut album, 'Prelude to Ecstasy', supported The Rolling Stones, Lana Del Ray, Florence and the Machine and The Arctic Monkeys, and topped it off with sold-out solo tours and two Brit Awards.

It seems there’s no stopping this indie-rock, baroque-pop band, their second studio album 'From The Pyre' has just dropped and they’re off on a huge, international tour so we're lucky Abigail and Georgia made time to drop into the Queer The Music studio to talk about their creative process, how they met, what Queer music means to them and the meaning behind their song 'My Lady of Mercy'.

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Welcome to the second part of the legendary Billy Porter on Queer The Music with Jake’s Shears where we hear the Tony, Grammy and Emmy award winner talk about his queer musical influences, politics, Pose and how playing Pray Tell, the flamboyant Master of Ceremonies in the New York City ballroom scene, changed Billy’s life

You can watch the whole episode on Mercury Studios YouTube channel here

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Queer The Music this week celebrates the multi-award winning actor, singer and activist Billy Porter.

Billy is the first gay Black man to win an Emmy Award in any lead acting category and in 2020 Time magazine included him in their list of 100 most influential people in the world

He wowed Broadway with his lead performance as drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots, scooping a Tony Award and a Grammy for Best Musical Theater album. He joins Jake in this episode to talk about finding his voice, how he shaped the role in Kinky Boots, his love of musical theatre and of course that show-stealing ballad from the show, Not My Father's Son.

You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studios' YouTube Channel - here

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Kae Tempest joins Jake Shears to talk about his song 'Statue In The Square'.

With two Mercury nominations and the Ted Hughes Poetry Prize under his belt, Kae Tempest is a celebrated and prolific artist. His new album, Self Titled is his most personal work yet telling his story of finding love, community and comfort. In this episode he opens up to Jake about his identity struggles, journey of self-acceptance and we learn how creativity and community has been a powerful catalyst for embracing his self-hood.

You can watch the whole episode at Mercury Studios YouTube channel here

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This episode is the second part of Jake's interview with The Metal God himself, Rob Halford - frontman of legendary rock band Judas Priest ….Last time we learnt about the pressures on Rob to keep his sexuality secret, the risk he took writing a song about Fire Island and how Tom of Finland influenced Judas Priest’s look. And now we’re about to get down and dirty… starting with asking Rob about his extremely honest autobiography…

Get in touch with any questions or comments via Instagram, we'd also love to hear who you'd like us to feature on Queer The Music @queerthemusicpodcast.com

And you can watch the full video of the episode on YouTube here

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Welcome to Series 3 of Queer The Music! We're kicking off with an absolute icon from the world of rock - Rob Halford.

Rob has spent half a century fronting one of heavy metal's biggest and most influential bands, Judas Priest.

The first openly gay metal singer, it’s hard to underestimate the impact Rob Halford’s coming out must have had for other queer rock fans.

In this episode Rob talks about how he created the look for Heavy Metal, the pressure to keep his sexuality secret, his unplanned coming out, the art and dangers of cruising, his secret to a successful relationship and the risk he took writing a song about Fire Island.

You can watch the full episode on Mercury Studio's YouTube Channel ⁠here⁠

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In this festive edition of Queer the Music Jake sits down with the iconic Holly Johnson, the front man of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, to discuss the 1984 UK number one single and enduring Christmas song, ‘The Power of Love’.

The Power of Love came out during a time of social and political turmoil in the UK. Between Thatcherism, the miner strike and an encroaching AIDS epidemic the world was becoming a scary place for the LGBTQ+ community. Despite this, gay bars, clubs and saunas were thriving in the UK and amongst it all Frankie Goes to Hollywood were skyrocketing to success with their debut album ‘Welcome to the Pleasuredome’.

Tune in to hear about how ‘The Power of Love’ was written and how it unwittingly became synonymous with Christmas.

Thank you for listening to this second series of Queer The Music, we'd love to hear from you - let us know which song you'd like us to feature - leave us a review or message us on Instagram @queerthemusicpodcast - see you for series 3 in 2025!

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