Big Gay Day 13

In case you hadn’t twigged from our cover, it’s time for Big Gay Day 2013 and this year The Wickham hosts a bevy of stars: Beccy Cole, Samantha Jade, Heather Small, DJ Sveta, Alex Taylor and Garcon Garcon.

Country Music singer Beccy Cole is probably the most anticipated act on the program, for no other reason than last year she captured headlines around Australia when she came out on ABC’s Australian Story.

Cole was backed on that program by some big names in the Country Music business: John Williamson introduced it, and her friends Kasey Chambers and Gina Jeffries appeared. Her friendship with Chambers was one of the most heart-warming parts of the program. “It's definitely uncomfortable if you've got a big part of yourself, if such an important part of yourself is a secret and kept inside," Cole told Australian Story. “In the darkness of an evening, sometimes that has been a difficult thing for me to cope with over the years.”

Cole says she can’t wait to get to Big Gay Day to play for Brisbane’s LGBTI community. She tells Davina Jones she’s looking forward to “getting my big gay arse onto the big gay stage and singing some big gay music”. Her first ‘gay’ gig after coming out was International Lesbian Day, here in Brisbane: “I will never forget how amazing that felt, nor how gorgeous the women were!” she says. “I also loved FEAST in Adelaide, where the women stood up at the end and I sobbed like a baby.”

Another BGD woman who made waves last year is Samantha Jade. The 2012 X Factor winner has been dreaming of being a singing star since she was 15, but she tells me she’s had to overcome obstacles along the way: her career in the States with a major label foundered when the record company did not give her career the attention it needed.

By the time she auditioned for X Factor she already had that experience behind her, but didn’t feel like she outclassed the other X Factor hopefuls. “I had been out of the music industry for a while so I felt the same as them, just like I was starting out,” she says. “A lot of the other acts were not beginners either, as a lot of them have been through my situation and were ‘giving it another go’.”

With her single, ‘What You’ve Done To Me’, Jade’s also appearing in this year’s Mardi Gras festival, along with another Big Gay Day attraction, Heather Small.

The voice behind M People, Heather Small is best known for singing the inspirational anthem ‘Proud’ at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics in London. With hits from her solo career like ‘Proud’, and the feel-good anthem ‘Moving on Up’ from her M People days, Small is an internationally recognised diva whose impact at BGD is going to be anything but… small.

Here’s hoping you enjoy QP’s BGD issue, and we'll see you there on the day... don't forget to pick up a copy of QP, which includes the BGD stage program.