The Modern L’s pick of the best Lesbian musicians

Sarah Bettens (K’s Choice)

Sarah Bettens (born 23 September 1972, Kapellen, Belgium) is the lead singer of the Belgian band K's Choice. Sarah and her brother Gert Bettens are the two popular faces of the band. She is known for her enigmatic, smoky voice. The band is popular in Belgium, the Netherlands and France, and had toured in the U.S. with The Verve Pipe, Tonic, Alanis Morissette and the Indigo Girls, as well as on their own. Sarah has maintained a successful solo career as well by providing vocals for music soundtracks, including Underworld, Wild Things, Zus and Zo and more recently Leef!.

Karma (Henry Ate)

Karma-Ann Swanapoel was the lead singer of Henry Ate, she has consequently gone solo releasing her first album Karma in 1998. The South African born rock star shot to fame in the mid-1990s with hit songs like Just and Henry. Before Karma's departure to the USA in 2003, Karma had attained huge success in South Africa. Her song Just was counted as No. 1 in the 5FM 2001 music countdown. Her musical style is one consisting of folk, acoustic, and South African harmony.

Betty

BETTY is an alternative rock group from New York City. The group originated in Washington, D.C. The band's harmonies and unique lyrics attracted a cult following in the vibrant alternative music scene and among gay/lesbian audiences. A "BETTY Rules" t-shirt, an early marketing item of the band, appears on one of the AIDS quilts. The band achieved notoriety by making their first major gig as a band an 'autobiographical' two-act musical at the legendary DC Space in February 1987. Entitled "BETTY:Inside Out", the show established the tongue-in-cheek personas of the band that follow them to present day: the ego of egomaniacal diva Amy, the id of shame-free rebel, Elizabeth and the superego of calm superhero, Alyson. In 2002 the group starred in its own off-Broadway show BETTY RULES directed by Rent's Michael Greif. The musical ran for 9 months at the Zipper Theatre. The show has since been performed in Chicago at the Lakeside Theatre and sold-out three runs at Theater J in Washington, DC. BETTY has appeared as a regular guest artist on the television show The L Word, for which they provided the theme song.

Beverly McClellan

Beverly McClellan is an American singer and contestant in the first season of the American The Voice reaching the final 4. She was coached by Christina Aguilera and part of her team. She finished in 3rd/4th place in the competition. Prior to applying to The Voice, she had already recorded 5 independent albums without having been signed by any record label.

At 4, McClellan started playing the piano and currently can play piano, guitar, trumpet, French horn, mandolin, ukulele, bass guitar, djembe and a wide variety of drums and percussions. She started singing at age 24 and had been performing at clubs in and bars around Fort Lauderdale, Florida for 20 years. She had won the New York National Music Festival in 2004 as Best Overall Performer amongst 500 contestants.

Brenda Fassie

Brenda Fassie (3 November 1964 – 9 May 2004) was a South African pop singer. She was known for her "outrageousness" and widely considered a voice for disenfranchised blacks during apartheid. She was affectionately known as the Queen of African Pop and her nickname among fans was Mabrrrr. Fassie was born in Langa, Cape Town, as the youngest of nine children. Her father died when she was two, and with the help of her mother, a pianist, she started earning money by singing for tourists. In 1981, at the age of 16, she left Cape Town for Soweto, Johannesburg, to seek her fortune as a singer. Fassie first joined the group Joy and later became the lead singer for the township pop group Brenda And The Big Dudes. She had a son, Bongani, in 1985 by a fellow Big Dudes musician. She married ex-convict Nhlanhla Mbambo in 1989 but divorced in 1991. Around this time she became addicted to cocaine and her career suffered. With very outspoken views and frequent visits to the poorer townships of Johannesburg, as well as songs about life in the townships, she enjoyed tremendous popularity. Known best for her songs "Weekend Special" and "Too Late for Mama", she was dubbed "The Madonna of the Townships" by Time in 2001. In 1995 she was discovered in a hotel with the body of her lesbian lover, Poppie Sihlahla, who had died of an apparent overdose. Fassie underwent rehabilitation and got her career back on track. However, she still had drug problems and returned to drug rehabilitation clinics about 30 times in her life. From 1996 she released several solo albums such as Now Is The Time, Memeza (1997, the best-selling album in South Africa in 1998) and Nomakanjani?. Most of her albums became multi-platinum sellers in South Africa. Her family, including her long term partner, were at her side when she succumbed to a cardiac arrest in 2004.

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician. Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals. She has also been an iconic gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993. Etheridge's interest in music began early; she picked up up her first guitar at 8. She began to play in all-men country music groups throughout her teenage years, until she moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music. While in Berklee, Etheridge played the club circuit around Boston. After three semesters, Etheridge decided to drop out of Berklee and head to Los Angeles to attempt a career in music. Etheridge was discovered in a bar called Vermie's in Pasadena, CA. She had made some friends on a women's soccer team and those new friends came to see her play. One of the women was Karla Leopold, whose husband, Bill Leopold, was a manager in the music business. Karla convinced Bill to see her perform live. He was impressed, and has remained a pivotal part of Etheridge's career ever since. This, in addition to her gigs in lesbian bars around Los Angeles, got her discovered by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell. She got a publishing deal to write songs for movies including the 1986 movie Weeds. In 1985, prior to her signing, Etheridge sent her demo to Olivia Records, a lesbian record label, but was ultimately rejected. She saved the rejection letter, signed by "the women of Olivia", which was later featured in Intimate Portrait: Melissa Etheridge, the Lifetime Television documentary of her life. After an unreleased first effort that was rejected by Island Records as being too polished and glossy, she completed her stripped-down self-titled debut in just four days. Her eponymous debut album Melissa Etheridge was an underground hit, and the single, "Bring Me Some Water", a turntable hit, was nominated for a Grammy

KD Lang

Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won both Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances; hits include "Constant Craving" and "Miss Chatelaine". She has contributed songs to movie soundtracks and has teamed with musicians such as Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Anne Murray and Jane Siberry. Lang is also known for being a vegan as well as an animal rights, gay rights, and Tibetan human rights activist. She is a tantric practitioner of the old school of Tibetan Buddhism. She performed Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" live at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Of course the list goes on and on and on…But these are our favorites for now. If you’d like to add any of your favourites onto this list, feel free to comment and we’ll add your suggestions to the next article!