You're listening to the BBC World Service with me David McCalmont and for the next half hour I'll be telling the glittering and heartbreaking tale of Sylvester James.

He was the one with enough boldness to let all of the gay and lesbians and

even transgender know that you have a voice, you have a gift, and you can use it in

whichever way you choose.

My name is David McCallmont and I was in a duo called McCallmont and Butler.

I'm doing a examination of Sylvester because I'm black, he's black. I'm gay, he's gay, and even though there are many songs that Sylvester is known for, essentially

there's one really core tune, mighty real. I've always loved that song and I can hear Sylvester's influence on other artists like Prince and Jimmy Somerville.

I wanted to find out more about this gender-bending black man with a fierce falsetto. And what I found out touches on civil rights,

discrimination in the American music industry, the devastating effect of AIDS in the 1980s and the 90s and the importance of self-belief.

My name is Josh Gamson and about 10 years ago I published a book about Sylvester called The Fabulous And about

Sylvester called The Fabulous Sylvester.

Sylvester.

Sylvester James was born on September 6th, 1947 in South Central Los Angeles. He was the first of many children in his family, raised primarily by his mother, Litha, and

his grandmother.

Sylvester had two brothers and two little sisters,

Bernadette and Bernadine, who were twins,

who he helped raise and he was very close to.

This is the house that we lived in.

That room was the boy's room, which is where Sylvester and his two brothers,

Larry and John, slept.

Sylvester grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood,

relatively poor, and it was a pretty tight black community

...