Country music star Chely
Wright will come out lesbian next week in People Magazine,
gossip website TMZ.com reported Saturday.
The 39-year-old singer was named Best
New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1994. She's
released seven studio albums throughout her career and is best known
for her 1999 #1 single release Single White Female. Broken,
her new single, was released last month.
In addition to writing her own music,
Wright has penned songs for Brad Paisley, Richard Marx, Mindy Smith
and Clay Walker.
She'll release her eighth studio album,
Lifted Off The Ground, and a memoir titled Like Me on
May 4.
The next day, People will hit
the newsstands.
Hollywood Publicist Howard Bragman –
the man behind Chaz Bono's coming out transgender – announced
several weeks ago to look for a major coming out story in the May 5
edition of People.
Bragman, who is openly gay and married
to Chuck O'Donnell, is known for helping celebrities come out of the
closet. The first client he helped was actor Dick Sergeant in 1991.
If Wright does come out gay, she'd
become the first major country artist to do so.