At the Nashville Pride Festival in Riverfront Park on Sunday, recording artist Vanessa Carlton served as the headliner and performed a set in front of a crowd of 18,000 people. The event is described as a celebration of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, and in between songs, Carlton told those in attendance, “I’ve never said this before, but I am a proud bisexual woman.” The 29-year-old recording artist is best known for her hit single “A Thousand Miles,” which was featured on her 2002 album Be Not Nobody.
Carlton, who has been romantically linked with male musicians such as solo artist John Mayer and lead singer of Third Eye Blind Stephan Jenkins, has followed in the footsteps of other celebrities who have opened up about their sexuality in recent months. Puerto Rican recording artist Ricky Martin came out of the closet to announce that he was gay three months ago.
True Blood star Anna Paquin made a public service announcement in April to admit that she was bisexual while country singer-songwriter Chely Wright, who was once linked to fellow musician Brad Paisley, revealed that she was a lesbian last month. Although Carlton achieved commercial success with her Be Not Nobody album, largely due to the popularity of “A Thousand Miles,” the album sales for her next two releases decreased dramatically.