National Coming Out Day: Singer Calum Scott shares his story

U.K. singer-songwriter Calum Scott, who identifies as gay, said his coming out story was a painful part of his young-adult life. He not only processed the complex emotions of a being a gay teenager, but also made the world around him aware of his sexual orientation.

Scott, 29, shares his story in an interview with Vevo today as part of National Coming Out Day, which encourages visibility as a way to eliminate stigma associated with being LGBTQ.

Coming out story

In the interview, Scott discusses the courage it took to be honest about himself through music and his emotional journey from childhood into adulthood to find his authentic self.

“I know that there are people young and old struggling with the same questions, and living with that relentless fear and heartbreak,” Scott said in the interview. “I make the music I do because I want to inspire the right kind of conversations.”

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Music scene

Scott, a 2015 finalist on “Britain’s Got Talent,” burst onto the music scene with his version of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” which became a global sensation with over 1 billion streams and is platinum in five countries.

Scott’s soaring falsetto take center stage on his debut album, “Only Human.” That release hit No. 1 on iTunes in more than 20 countries and has amassed over 1 billion combined streams.

His hit single, “You Are The Reason” featuring three- time Grammy nominee and vocal powerhouse Leona Lewis, was certified gold and has over 750 million streams worldwide.

Scott will release his new single “No Matter What” October 19.

Sharing his story

Scott hopes his coming out story helps diminish the pain other LGBTQ people might be feeling.

“If one less kid can grow up without hiding who they are along the way or having to believe that who they love is something that will make them lonely,” he says, “then everything I went through will be worth it.”

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

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