Lesbian diva

Since the age of 17, Shauna Jensen has been known for her singing ability. Her major stepping stone into music stardom was becoming the lead backup vocalist for Jimmy Barnes, and her rock chick days included extensive work with INXS, Cold Chisel and Powderfinger.

I’ve always been in the music industry. Working with Jimmy was a great experience and at times we used to share the stage doing fantastic duets together, Jensen told Sydney Star Observer.

This out and proud lesbian singer admits that coming to terms with her sexuality was hard at first but she got over it. At first she followed the norms of society, settled down and had a baby, but this phase didn’t last for long. Thirty years on, Jensen has no regrets about her so-called straight life.

I’ve always know that I was a lesbian. I love my daughter and she is fine with my sexuality, she said.

Since coming out, Jensen hasn’t really suffered from homophobia in the showbiz scene and even won the SSO DIVA Award in 2006.

It’s much easier being a gay female than a gay man in the music industry, probably because it gets many people’s rocks off. I guess the only problem with being homosexual is being pigeonholed. Many assume that your market is just the gay community. Not that the pink dollar is bad but gay artists have lots of straight fans as well.

She has also embarked on a television career with regular spots on Beauty And The Beast and Studio AWith Simon Burke and she was a judge on Popstar Live.

In recent years she has recorded tracks with several of the world’s leading DJs. Her most popular dance song Take Me To Heaven featured on the Queer As Folk soundtrack.

It was such a rush watching it on the show. The track was remixed by DJ Wayne G and I thought they would just put the song on a club scene. It was the Monday after Mardi Gras and my song was played while Justin was topping Brian for the first time.

Jensen spends a lot of time helping out at the Larder Club as well as singing at various BGF events.

I lost most of my gay friends to AIDS during the 80s. As I don’t have any money to give I like to use my talents to help out as much as I can.

This diva will be heading down to Melbourne for Winterdaze in June and is releasing an EP for summer.

This Saturday (26 May), Jensen will be performing at Will and Tobys, Taylor Square, singing old-school anthems with a six-piece band with her daughter as special backup vocalist. Her two one-hour sets start at 9pm.