Billy Porter is looking back on his journey as a musician. The singer is about to embark on The Black Mona Lisa Tour: Volume One, which was part of his journey to becoming the “male Whitney Houston”. “Music is the original gift.
I started singing in church when I was five. I love theater and that was an original dream … but another one of my original dreams was to be the male Whitney Houston,” he told Sherri Shepherd on the latest episode of “Sherri”. READ MORE: Billy Porter Desperately Wants To Collaborate With Jennifer Lopez: ‘I Have Her Number, I’m Trying To Not Bug Her’ It wasn’t an easy journey, however, especially as an openly gay Black musician. “I got my first record contract, and my first album came out in 1997.
And the industry was VERY homophobic at the time. And they kicked my gay behind out. And I can say it now. I can tell the truth now.
Because we’re telling the truth now,” Porter recalled. “That’s what happened. And, I did it anyway. I went and did all of this other stuff, and now signed to one of the biggest labels in the business.