Michael Stipe reveals he is gay and joins a select band of pop stars

As a way of "coming out" to fans around the world, it was understated, to say the least. Michael Stipe, lyricist and singer with REM, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1980s and 90s, confirmed in one sentence what most of the music world already knew: he is gay.

As a way of "coming out" to fans around the world, it was understated, to say the least. Michael Stipe, lyricist and singer with REM, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1980s and 90s, confirmed in one sentence what most of the music world already knew: he is gay.

Using the conservative American magazine Time as an unlikely platform, Stipe yesterday declared his sexual preference almost as an aside, buried in a lengthy interview.

His decision to "out" himself formally was welcomed by gay campaigners last night, while the music world waited to see whether his admission would affect sales of the band's latest album, appropriately called Reveal, which was released yesterday.

Departing from his oft-delivered reply "I'm an equal opportunities lech" and saying simply that he has been in a relationship with "an amazing man" for three years, the 41-year-old singer explained: "I was being made to be a coward about it, rather than someone who felt like it really was a very private thing."

Stipe's homosexuality has been common knowledge among those who knew him. But in a world where image is everything, how will it affect a career that has already spawned such classics as "Losing My Religion", "It's The End Of The World As We Know It" and "Everybody Hurts"?

According to Steve Redmond, publisher of Music Week, probably not at all. "No one is suggesting that this is some kind of publicity stunt, but it is difficult to see why he has chosen to go public now," he said. "This has been the biggest secret in the industry for years. But it is difficult to see how it will affect his career."

Stipe's decision to out himself puts him in a long line of musicians, artists and actors who have risked their careers to be true to their sexuality, and sets him aside from even more who kept theirs under wraps.

The effect on a star in the artistic world is never the same and depends almost entirely on two things: the longevity of the artist's career and the nature of his or her fan base.

"If the band plays hard rock and appeals to teenage boys and men in their early teens, then the revelation that the lead singer is gay could have a terrible effect," said Mr Redmond. "But if the band or artist has been around for a while, their fans have grown up with them and they can probably get away with anything.

"At the start of his career, Freddie Mercury was hiding his sexuality because Queen's fan base would not have appreciated it. By the end of his career, he was camping it up with the best of them but was so well established that nothing could touch him."

But even established stars can be affected by being outed. When George Michael was prosecuted in America for committing a lewd act in a public lavatory in 1998, it led to an avalanche of media coverage confirming what many already knew; that he was gay.

Simon Napier-Bell, former manager of Wham! and author of Black Vinyl, White Powder, said: "George never really hid his sexuality from his friends, but the media were just waiting for an excuse to write all about it. I don't think it affected his career in this country, but there are pockets of conservative America where he used to sell a lot and doesn't sell anything now. George is rich enough and confident enough for that not to bother him.

"He probably doesn't mind because he wouldn't want to sell to those people anyway."

In fact, George Michael's overall sales did not suffer at all. Older, his 1996 album, sold 7 million copies before the "cottaging" incident; Ladies and Gentlemen, the greatest hits album that came after it, sold 8.5 million.

When John Lennon wrote "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", many fans believed the words related to the Beatles' gay manager Brian Epstein. More than 30 years on, little has changed. When, in 1999, Stephen Gately of Boyzone found he was going to be outed by a Sunday newspaper, he told the full story to The Sun and awaited the consequences. In a later interview with The Mirror, he described hiding away his love for his partner Eloy de Jong.

"For six, seven years, I had to think of completely hiding my sexuality," he said. "That was really, really difficult. Eloy and I would have to take different cars, different planes, check into our hotel at different times. And all those questions that you had to dodge: 'Who's your favourite girl?' 'Which girls do you fancy?' I can't express what a weight it was off my shoulders."

Gately was in a Milan hotel room with Eloy when the story broke. He recalled: "We were sitting watching Sky News, saying 'Oh God, the story's coming out tomorrow! Wonder how big it's going to be?'

"And they said 'Here's the headlines' and it comes up. My jaw dropped. All the tragedies in the world ­ the famines, the earthquakes, people dying ­ and the three biggest tabloids chose to put me on the cover."

Angela Mason, director of Stonewall, the gay rights group, said she was delighted Stipe had decided to come out, but argued that it was still difficult in the music business for some performers to be honest about their sexuality.

"I think in management terms, it is still seen by people at the top, by the people who control the accounts, as a risk, and it is their job to minimise any risk that could affect a star's earnings potential," she said. "Even though the music industry is traditionally one in which gay people have done well, it does not have a great record for people coming out.

"George Michael's coming out was, shall we say, difficult; Freddie Mercury kept his sexuality quiet for a long time, and Elton John only came out quite late in his career.

"Those who performed openly as gays ­ like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Marc Almond and Boy George ­ had a torrid time. Even now, there are very few women performers who come out. It's still quite a difficult thing to do when the pressure is on you from above to keep quiet about it."

In fairness to Sir Elton, he did say in a Rolling Stone magazine interview as long ago as 1976: "There's nothing wrong with going to bed with someone of your own sex." Caroline Boucher, PR at his record company Rocket, wrote years later: "We had dodged round the issue for years, more from a desire to protect him than out of fear about what the truth might do to his image."

In Hollywood, the image machine makes coming out even harder. It was only when he was dying of Aids that Rock Hudson, one of Tinseltown's most enduring heart-throbs, admitted he was gay. And Liberace, the gay pianist, would camp it up on stage but had sued for being described as a homosexual.

"The most important thing is that people are beginning to realise that nobody really cares about your sexuality any more ­ particularly in this country," said Mr Napier-Bell.

"We've reached a point where tolerance is expected, but if you think about it, tolerance is a bit insulting. It suggests I've done something that you need to tolerate.

"What we need to move on to next is sheer indifference. We haven't achieved that yet, particularly in the record industry, but I think we'll get there in the end."