Nine years ago, Greyson Chance became a viral sensation after his sixth-grade performance of Lady Gaga’s 2009 pop anthem, Paparazzi, was uploaded to YouTube.
After receiving widespread attention, heaps of acclaim (and a phone call from Gaga), the singer-songwriter – who was just 12-years-old at the time – was invited to appear on The Ellen Degeneres Show, and subsequently became a household name in the United States. In the same year, Greyson released his first single Waiting Outside the Lines – produced by Christina Aguilera’s mentor, Ron Fair – which was shortly followed by his pop-rock influenced debut studio album, Hold On ’til the Night. Imagine doing all of that before you hit your teens?

“I had to go through the ringers of the music industry at a very young age,” says Greyson. “I am just so blessed for my parents. I have an amazing mom and dad and they supported me through it the entire time, but there were a lot of pros and cons to it.” In subsequent years, Greyson released multiple EPs and a number of standalone singles – including Meridians, Back on the Wall and Lighthouse – but later decided that he wasn’t cut out for the industry. “I didn’t really see a path or trajectory for myself moving forward in music. Throughout adolescence, I knew I was good at music, but I don’t think I understood the weight of this being my path, my purpose. I became so beat down in the industry and so many people closed the door on me and said, ‘Listen, you’ve had your moment, that’s it.'”

Christine & The Queens' Héloïse Letissier believes pop can tackle LGBTQ subjects ''without being questioned''.

The 30-year-old singer - who identifies as pansexual, meaning she is attracted to a person regardless of their sex or gender identity - feels the music industry has always been progressive but she thinks it's becoming ''more nuanced'' and more able to discuss in depth issues surrounding sexuality and gender.

VICE: What initially made you decide to write this book?

Darryl W. Bullock: I wanted to write a book about LGBTQ people making records, but to be honest, it was a bit dull. It was starting to look a bit like an encyclopedia, an A-to-Z of gay musicians. Then, maybe three or four months into the project, David Bowie died, and his death struck me really viscerally.

But it was while I saw how others reacted to his death, especially the stars I grew up with—the Boy Georges and the George Michaels and the Madonnas—that I realized I was going down the wrong track. I realized the book shouldn’t just be about LGBTQ people making records, but how they influenced each generation that followed. You start to build up this timeline, and it stretches back over 100 years, almost back to the birth of commercially available discs.

It was also a definite decision to include voices you don’t hear of. It would be easy to write a book just about Elton John, George Michael, Boy George, Freddie Mercury, those kinds of people. But I really wanted to document the lives of people like Patrick Haggerty, Blackberri and John “Smokey” Condon (pic above), people who have made incredibly important contributions to music and to LGBTQ lives but have been basically ignored by the mainstream media.

For even the most seasoned music lovers and sound hounds, discovering LGBTQ musicians can prove daunting.

Only a handful identify as “LGBTQ musicians” themselves, as most identify simply as musicians, preferring not to box themselves into a set sound, lyrical set or target demographic. For the same reason, it’s rare to find a comprehensive listing of LGBTQ musicians on online stores or streaming apps; all artists, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, are typically grouped by genre.

But with a little research and a lot of listening, we’ve created this living encyclopedia of LGBTQ musicians that can be used to discover new queer artists and give music-lovers an even deeper appreciation for those you already loved.