How this cabaret performer's musical idol helped her come out - LGBTQ Nation

A Pride photo from San Francisco in 2009 shows Terese Genecco centered off the mainstage with her band. Genecco performs a tribute to Frances Faye, a Brooklyn-born Jewish American cabaret singer known for interpreting the Great American Songbook. Faye’s career spanned from teenage nightclub work in the 1930s through major headlining engagements in multiple cities into the 1980s. She recorded for major labels, wrote songs including “Well All Right,” and appeared in Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby as an opium-smoking madam. Genecco discovered Faye through a cabaret competition comment and a live album, then formed “Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye!” for major Pride performances. The tribute includes a song written by Bruz Fletcher, tied to Faye’s personal connection and his life story.

"Genecco is the center of attention in her photo snapped by Fidel Lirio, just off the mainstage with her band at San Francisco Pride in 2009. Frances Faye is Genecco's musical idol. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights."

"Faye, a Brooklyn-born, Jewish American cabaret singer, had a rich career interpreting the Great American Songbook, from her start as a teenager on the nightclub circuit in the 1930s, through headlining acts in New York, Las Vegas, Miami, and Los Angeles into the 1980's. Along the way, she recorded for all the major labels, was a prolific songwriter ("Well All Right" is her tune), and not so incongruously played an opium-smoking madam in French director Louis Malle's Pretty Baby. And she was gay."

""I went out and bought the only CD I could find at the time, her live album 'Caught in the Act' from the Crescendo Nightclub in Hollywood. And I fell in love sitting in my car. That was it." Genecco pulled a band together, and a new act: "Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye!" That San Francisco Pride performance was one of the singer's biggest dates with the show."

""'Drunk With Love' was written by Bruz Fletcher," Genecco explains. "Frances had known Bruz personally and performed his song throughout her seven-decade career in his honor. He was gay in 1950s Los Angeles, ran a club constantly raided by the cops, and shot himself at 35 because of depression. That song carries a lot of weight.""

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