ABOVE: Watch the video for Neon Trees’ “Everybody Talks.”
TORONTO — Tyler Glenn, lead singer of pop band Neon Trees, has come out as gay.
In an interview published in the new issue of Rolling Stone, the 30-year-old said he has known since he was a child that he is gay but kept his sexuality a secret.
“I had my crushes on guys throughout high school, but it was never an overwhelming thing until my 20s,” he told the magazine. “Then I’d be dating girls and in love with my straight friend and it was the world feeling in the world.”
Glenn, who was raised Mormon in Utah, said he started coming out to friends and family members last October. He said many of the songs on the band’s new album Psychology are about his time in the closet.
Glenn tweeted Monday: “Yes. I am a happy and healthy Mormon gay pop star. I don’t know what it all means, but I’m ok with it.”
Neon Trees began in 2005 but didn’t find commercial success until the 2010 release of Habits and the hit single “Animals.”
Their 2012 single “Everybody Talks” was also a chart-topper that was used in a car commercial and in an episode of Glee.
The group opened for such acts as Killers, Duran Duran, My Chemical Romance and Panic! at the Disco.
Glenn said he was inspired by football player Michael Sam’s decision to come out publicly.
“I appreciated Michael Sam was like, ‘I want to be able to go to the movies and hold hands with my boyfriend.’ Even hearing him say ‘boyfriend,’ I was just like, that’s cool.”
Comments