Get Out! GAY Magazine – Issue 384 – September 12, 2018
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
Featuring content from the hottest gay and gay-friendly spots in New York, each (free!) issue of Get Out! highlights the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, spas and other businesses throughout NYC’s metropolitan area that the city’s gay population is interested in.
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She would come over and<br />
get the sides together,<br />
and we would entertain all<br />
those military people at<br />
my house. She was just a<br />
bright light in my life.<br />
It’s just so hard to fathom,<br />
because I’ve never<br />
lost anyone in my family<br />
through death. So<br />
that was my first death<br />
experience. When I found<br />
out about it I was in Las<br />
Vegas in my father’s<br />
house after Thanksgiving.<br />
Crystal Waters called me<br />
and said, “Lane, did you<br />
hear something about a<br />
plane crash?” I told her<br />
that I hadn’t heard anything.<br />
By the time I got<br />
off the telephone I saw<br />
this ticker-tape run across<br />
CNN saying that Melanie<br />
Thornton has died in the<br />
Crossair plane crash. I just<br />
dropped the phone, and<br />
I just couldn’t believe it.<br />
Some people survived<br />
the crash; I thought<br />
she would be one of<br />
them. I thought she<br />
would walk away from<br />
it, because she was<br />
so tenacious. But that<br />
was not the case. So<br />
for a couple of years I<br />
just didn’t do anything.<br />
I just contemplated,<br />
“Why am I<br />
here? What do I do<br />
now?” We were a duo.<br />
After a couple of years<br />
of not working I went<br />
back to an agent, and<br />
he told me La Bouche<br />
was dead, and that<br />
I should probably<br />
consider getting a real<br />
job. So I went back<br />
to my original agent,<br />
and we formulated a<br />
strategy to get back<br />
out there. So I started<br />
working and have not<br />
stopped since. But<br />
Melanie, there is not<br />
one bad thing I could<br />
say about her. She was<br />
caring, giving, talented,<br />
charismatic. I think<br />
she was on the threshold<br />
of becoming another<br />
Donna Summer. She had<br />
that kind of voice.<br />
It’s very sad.<br />
You have to keep going.<br />
There’s a lesson I try<br />
to impart to everyone:<br />
You’ve got to tell people<br />
in your life that you love<br />
them, because tomorrow<br />
is not promised to<br />
anyone. We could be<br />
gone. You never sweat<br />
the small stuff. We never<br />
got excited about small<br />
things. We were just extremely<br />
glad to be a couple<br />
of black kids, one from<br />
South Carolina and one<br />
from Kentucky, to land on<br />
the international stage of<br />
music and to have people<br />
share in that journey with<br />
us. There is no bigger<br />
rush than walking into a<br />
40,000-seat stadium and<br />
have everybody singing<br />
“La da da da da da.”<br />
If you could say anything<br />
to your fans what would<br />
you want to say?<br />
This might sound cliché,<br />
but without you there<br />
would be no us. They have<br />
been with me from the<br />
beginning, through the<br />
highs and the lows, and so<br />
just thank you.
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