Gay artists score big in Grammy noms

Leading the Grammy nomination pack, Frank Ocean — seen here at the Coachella Music Festival earlier this year — came out as gay to praise from across the music industry prior to the release of his critically acclaimed debut album. (Photo by Fred von Lohmann; courtesy of wikimedia commons)

LOS ANGELES — Frank Ocean, who came out on his blog prior to the release of his chart-busting debut album Channel Orange earlier this year, scored six nominations in this week’s Grammy announcements.

Ocean’s album scored the star nominations for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Urban Contemporary Album and Record of the Year for “Thinking About You.”

Ocean joined other gay nominees Ellen DeGeneres and Rachel Maddow, who were both nominated in the spoken word category for audio versions of their books. Janis Ian and the duo Tegan and Sara also received nominations.