Lang, k.d. (1961—)

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lang, k.d. (1961—)

When discussing k.d. lang, it is first of all her voice that is mentioned. Even lang herself talks about her voice and its demands as if it doesn't quite live inside her. The voice itself, rich and powerful with an effortless broad range, dictates what kind of music she will sing. And the voice has gained her entry into some arenas that seem unlikely for a lanky, country-bred, lesbian performance artist.

Born Kathryn Dawn Lang on November 2, 1961, in Edmonton, Alberta, lang grew up in the tiny town of Consort, four hours away in the Canadian countryside. Growing up in a farming and ranching town with a population of 650 gave lang her country roots, and a certain self-acceptance that comes from living where "everybody knows you." Her parents were both musical and, determined to nurture her children's cultural development, lang's mother drove them for hours over country roads to piano lessons.

Two events, which took place in her early teens, changed lang's life forever. When she was twelve, her father deserted the family, and when she was 13 she began her first lesbian affair, with the wife of one of her teachers. By the time she was 15, she was identifying as a lesbian and soon she moved to Edmonton in search of broader horizons. There she joined a group of young artists who called themselves GOYA (Group of Young Artists), and she began to do performance art influenced by the punk movement. When she started singing country music, that too became a sort of performance art. Wearing a skirt made from curtains in her mother's house and a pair of men's cowboy boots, sawed off above the ankle, with her hair in spikes and a rakish grin, k.d. lang pranced onto the stage and began to sing in a voice that filled up the theater.

American country music is a little like a small town, somewhat narrow-minded and limited in scope, yet at the same time accepting of the fact that each family contains its share of eccentricity. Lang's soulful voice and exuberantly emotional renditions made a place for her within the country family, but her unconventional persona ensured it would never be a comfortable place. Though she earned her first Grammy award for her country music, she was never able to get radio play for her songs and so was denied popular acceptance.

Following the dictates of her voice and her own reluctance to be bound by genre, lang soon branched out. She followed her country albums, A Truly Western Experience (1984), Angel With a Lariat (1987), and Absolute Torch and Twang (1989), with a departure, Ingenue, an album of mostly original songs with a torchy, old-fashioned feel. One of the singles, "Constant Craving," became lang's first major radio hit. "Constant Craving" also articulated a recurrent theme in lang's work—persistent unfulfilled need as the human condition. She reiterates this theme in other songs, notably on the album Drag (1997). On Drag, every song involves smoking cigarettes, symbols, lang says, of "rebellion or sexiness," and of "love … an elusive thing all of us crave … even though it kills us."

This desperate, unfulfillable longing that throbs so effectively in lang's voice is perhaps one of the most powerful connections she makes with her young, late twentieth-century audience, who are familiar with the roots of addiction. Often still leading emotionally unsatisfying lives in spite of fairy-tale technology, and with the threat of AIDS adding a terrifying aspect to explorations of intimacy, modern listeners can resonate with lang, no matter which genre she uses as her vehicle.

Along with transcending genres, lang has made a specialty of transcending gender. Wearing suits and ties with close-cropped hair as often as skirts and make up, lang brought acceptance of androgyny to a broad audience. In 1993, she posed for the cover of Vanity Fair, sitting in barber's chair wearing a pinstriped suit and a face full of shaving lather, as super-femme model Cindy Crawford prepares to shave her. Though the titillating cover drew criticism from many quarters, it was the third biggest-selling issue in Vanity Fair's history. An out lesbian early in her public career, lang's most loyal and consistent fans have been lesbians, though she has sometimes been dismayed by expectations that she represent a certain lesbian image. She has been politically active in gay issues such as the fight against AIDS, and has paved the way for other lesbian entertainers, such as Melissa Etheridge and Ellen DeGeneres, to be publicly honest about their sexuality.

A vegetarian since 1981, lang has also campaigned for animal rights. One of the most controversial moments in her career came when she appeared in an advertisement sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, saying "Meat stinks." Country audiences who had managed to overlook her butch appearance and irreverent attitude would not tolerate a blow to their livelihood. Even in her hometown in Alberta's beef country, the proud plaque saying "Home of k.d. lang" was angrily removed.

Challenging traditions has been the cornerstone of lang's career, whether they be the expectations of a disenfranchised lesbian community or the demands of the celebrity system. She has refused to pick a look or a music genre and stick with it, and because of this has carved out a broad niche for her sophisticated voice and the rawboned country performance artist that goes with it.

—Tina Gianoulis