k.d. lang has certainly had her share of artistic moments, from her rockabilly days in the 1980's to the exquisite Ingénue album of 1992, with its smash hit “Constant Craving,” and, of course, the moment she performed “Hallelujah” at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. Her voice is at once soothing and soulful, attention-grabbing without being overly showy.
However, mention k.d. lang and the conversation will rather quickly circle to “The Cover.” It's not often that the pinnacle of a career can be encapsulated in one photograph, but the cover of Vanity Fair's August 1993 issue detonated like a neutron bomb.
Having already come out publicly as a lesbian on the cover of The Advocate’s June 1992 issue, Lang was one of the first to openly celebrate her sexuality—at a time when doing so was almost unthinkable.
“I knew it was an important issue at the time because AIDS had really impacted the gay lifestyle and gay culture. QueerNation was outing people... it was a very tumultuous time,” she mused. “I didn't have any idea what the reaction was going to be. I thought, 'I may lose everything.’ I thought my career could be demolished. But I really felt like it was the most responsible thing to do—to own it, to be it, and to just say it, take the pressure off other people that might be going through it. Thankfully for me and for society it turned out to be a positive experience.”
The pride in her voice seeps through, even now. The eventual outcome, not just for her but for so many like her, an outsize reward for the trailblazer who risked it all.
Still, it was the Vanity Fair cover that got the attention. Dressed in a dark, pinstriped suit with matching vest, she reclines in a barber's chair with her face lathered in shaving cream, as Cindy Crawford—herself at the height of supermodel fame—drags a straight razor across her face.
It was instantly iconic.
Of “The Cover” Lang said, “I think we, as queers, know that taking a provocative picture for the front of Vanity Fair is pushing the envelope. But at the same time [photographer] Herb Ritts was a good friend of mine, and I had met Cindy Crawford a bunch of different times socially, so it was just another day at work. I don't think Cindy was prepared [for the reaction to the cover]; I don't think I was prepared. And I don't think I had the objectivity that I do now. And certainly knowing how impactful the cover was now, I have a great deal of pride that we were able to make a social statement in an artistic way.”
During our interview, she spoke sparingly, listened and laughed a lot. When asked about being quoted as having said her sexuality isn't “her cause,” though, she jumps in quickly.
“Let me clarify [what I mean] when I say my sexuality isn't 'my cause'. It's not the entirety of who I am or who I see myself as. I'm a Buddhist, lesbian, vegetarian, Canadian—all sorts of categories I could put myself in. I never wanted to be a singular spokesperson for the LGBTQ community, because the culture and community is extremely diverse and I could never speak for all of the community! That's why I never wanted to be a spokesperson. I tried to be as open as possible, without forcing my own identity into the LGBT community.”— k.d. lang
Lang formed a musical trio with Neko Case and Laura Veirs, calling the project case/lang/veirs. Asked about the genesis of the group she said, “I had just moved to Portland [Oregon] from Los Angeles and met Neko and Laura around the same time and… just one night—a real instinctual gut reaction—I thought, 'That would be an interesting trio.' We have enough differences, enough similarities, I trust them as people, I'm a fan of their work, and I just felt like that would be an interesting combination. So I wrote them emails, and I heard back from both of them in about a half an hour, and they said, ‘Yeah, let's do it!’”
Lang certainly doesn't have anything to prove with this venture, as her career has netted her a total of eleven Grammy nominations to date, with four wins. Still, the reviews have been glowing for the trio and the album.
As well, Lang is no stranger to Music City, having been drawn to the music of Patsy Cline while in college. She even formed a group called the Reclines in honor of Cline. As she was recording her second album in Nashville, she sang “Crying” with Roy Orbison and garnered her first appearance on the country charts in 1987. In 2010, she recorded her album Sing It Loud in Nashville with Nonesuch records.
It's been a remarkable career for this trailblazer from Canada. It can be easy to forget how brave souls staked their careers to speak their truth, to forget just how much vitriol and hatred they received for their honesty. But it's damn hard to forget that cover.