Late soul star Luther Vandross' sexuality has come under the microscope in a revealing new gay magazine article. Less than a year after the singer died, Vandross' gay pals are opening up about the late star's secret homosexuality in a new Out magazine expose.

Funnyman and longtime Oscars writer Bruce Vilanch tells the gay magazine that he was aware of Vandross' sexual secret when he befriended the singer at the beginning of his career. Vilanch says, "He was way 'in' (the closet). He said to me, 'No one knows I'm in the life.'"

But Vilanch admits Vandross was careful not to make his private life public. He adds, "He had very few sexual contacts." The comedy writer reveals one gay romance he knew of was with a "not white" man, who was a recovering alcoholic.

Meanwhile, famed gay journalist Michael Musto - another Vandross associate - insists the singer was desperate to find a boyfriend in the years before he passed away. Musto reveals, "A famously open gay singer/songwriter (told me) Luther was dying to have a boyfriend. It was an inside showbusiness open secret."

While many Vandross fans are appalled by efforts to 'out' the singer less than a year after his death, Michael Roberson, the director of gay group People of Color in Crisis, welcomes the expose. He says, "Clearly, a lot of black gay performers feel they can't come out. Yet it would be important, particularly to black gay young people, to see black gay role models."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)