SOPHIE B. Hawkins was at the heart of nineties mania thanks to smooth pop tracks Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover and As I Lay Me Down.
She sold millions of albums and 32 years later her songs are still huge.
Alongside Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt and Gwen Stefani, Sophie, now 59, was among a group of female singers in the mid nineties who were a force to be reckoned with.
Last year she released her new album, Free Myself, and also went on tour.
Sophie honed her musical talents at the Manhattan School of Music before working as a percussionist for Bryan Ferry – who fired her after two weeks.
In 1989 she caught the attention of record labels and released her first music with Sony.
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After she quit Sony she released five albums on her own label, and would later say her career in the 90s was “a journey to create on my own terms and defy classification”.
But despite her musical genius she has been hounded by questions about her sexuality.
She wrote in a piece on her life for Huffington Post last year: “I’m sitting with The New York Times’ esteemed music writer. ‘Are you a lesbian?’ he asks.”
Sophie went on to say she told the journalist: “I’m omnisexual.”
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She continued: “My gender doesn’t define my sexuality.
“My creative spirit does. A male partner doesn’t make me straight, nor does a female partner make me gay. ‘I am everything,’ omni is all, and one.”
Sophie is a huge supporter of LGBT rights and has spoken freely on the gender spectrum.
