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US star Jennifer Knapp, a Grammy-nominated evangelical folk singer, has come out as gay and in a relationship.

Knapp, who has sold nearly one million albums since her 1998 debut, Kansas, had previously toured relentlessly and featured in the 1999 Lilith Fair tour. She has also won four Dove Awards, the gospel music industry’s top honours.

The revelation comes on the eve of a new album release from the singer, who has spent seven years out of the limelight living in Australia. Knapp is believed to be reinventing her image to an extent and is targeting a mainstream audience with her new album. She still considers herself a “person of faith” but appears to believe her sexuality does not fit in with the evangelical world. Of her new album she says, “I just wouldn’t find it respectful to say, ‘Hey, this is something that you want in your store next to your Jesus statue,’”.

The coming out may provoke backlash from fans who vehemently denied rumours of Knapp’s homosexuality in her heyday. No singer as famous as Knapp in the Christian music genre is openly gay, although Ray Boltz came out in 2008, a few years after retiring from the business.

The industry, which is highly profitable in the US, generally frowns upon ‘non-Christian’ behaviour. Radio stations and music retailers have blacklisted best-selling acts after they admitted affairs or went through divorce during the 1990s.

Posted in: Music |