GrooveOut Love Is Stranger Than Pride Ultra Naté makes her first trip to Houston for Pride Week by Chris Sill

Ultra Naté, one of dance music’s most original divas, makes her Houston debut this month to help celebrate Gay Pride. GrooveOut recently called Naté in Germany and talked with her about her gay anthem "Free," her new album Stranger Than Fiction, and about the meaning of personal success.

OutSmart: Hi Ultra, it’s Chris Sill for OutSmart magazine in Houston, Texas.

Ultra Naté: Hello, from Stuttgart!

There’s a big buzz around town that you are coming for Houston’s Gay Pride celebration.

That is true!

I can’t recall you ever being in Houston before.

No I haven’t, I’ve only been to Texas once, and that was to Dallas.

So this will be a first?

Yes, I’m looking forward to it.

I hear you’re going to be in our parade?

Yes, I’m hearing that as well.

You know it’s a nighttime parade because it’s too hot in the daytime.

Oh, I can understand that. [Laughs] That makes sense!

Wear something sparkly!

Absolutely.

I can’t imagine a gay pride celebration without your timeless smash hit "Free." The gay community has truly adopted it as one of its anthems. How do you feel about that?

Oh, it’s great for me! I think it’s amazing for any artist’s work to be regarded in such a way and to be made a classic, and to mean so much to people. A lot of heart and soul and work went into crafting that record, so for it to be embraced by the gay community is great. The gay community has always been a very large supporter of my projects from my beginnings, so it seems like a natural thing to me.

"Free" gives us a tremendous sense of purpose about why we’re all here. In the liner notes on your new album Stranger Than Fiction you state that personal success should bring one a greater sense of purpose. What does personal success mean to you?

Personal success means accomplishing your goals. On this album, having brought ideas that began as brainstorms in my head to being works that are now tangible not only to myself but to other people–that’s a very personal success. The story of this album is not judged successfully by how many units it sells in the end. That’s a different kind of success. It’s already a personal success because I have accomplished what I set out to do.

In a broader sense it’s like an analogy of the story of life. It’s more about what you put into it than what you get out of it.

Yes, exactly.

Stranger Than Fiction takes on the theme of a novel. I read that when you were recording in New Orleans you became a big Anne Rice fan.

Actually, I was [a fan] long before that, but going to New Orleans was very helpful in developing my ideas for the album. I was already influenced by Anne Rice’s method for crafting stories of certain characters that continued from one book to the next. That makes sense to me in how your life is in the big scheme of things, and also with what an album should really be with various songs on it but all being a part of one body of work, one idea.

The album beautifully translates the many phases of love. From the casual acquaintance of "Ain’t Lookin for Nothing" to the almost obsessive "Twisted," with plenty of, should I say "steamy" action in between . . . but what do you think is the one thing that makes love stranger than fiction?

Oh, I think the unpredictability of it. It’s one of those things in life that’s a constant, whether you’re feeling good about it, feeling bad about it, wanting it, or having it. You’re always in some part of the scenario where love is concerned, and that always makes it unpredictable. It’s volatile.

Let’s say that life is like a book, and of course yours is a number-one best-seller.

I would hope so. [Laughs]

What chapter is Ultra Naté on?

Ooh. I’m in that chapter where things are about to make a serious change. Things are going to evolve to another level where there’s a lot of shifting of elements in my life.

In different areas of your life?

In a lot of different areas. It’s interesting to sit back and watch life happen. We’ll see where everything lands when the shifting finishes for this particular phase in my life.

Thank you so much for spending some time with me. I’ll see you in Houston for Gay Pride.

I’ll be there with bells on!

Catch Ultra Naté’s Gay Pride performance Saturday, June 23, at Rich’s. For more on Ultra Naté, visit www.ultranate.com.