Throughout his incredible career, world renown singer-songwriter, David James Archuleta, has performed with orchestras and choruses, including the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square during a Christmas special in 2010. However, he had never performed a show with an all-male chorus until the 2021 Christmas season.
One of the stops during his Christmas tour was in Dallas, Texas, at the First United Methodist Church Richardson. On Tuesday evening, 21 December 2021, he shared the stage with a predominantly gay men’s chorus — the Turtle Creek Chorale. Together they performed a special holiday show called Turtle Creek Chorale Presents an Evening with David Archuleta.
According to their official website, the Turtle Creek Chorale (TCC) is the most recorded male chorus in the world. As such, “TCC has provided musical journeys to audiences in Dallas, Texas and beyond for over 40 years and offers an annual main stage concert series at Moody Performance Hall, Meyerson Symphony Center, and other venues around the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex.”
Turtle Creek Chorale artistic director, Sean Baugh, said, “I’ve always been a huge fan of David’s. He sings with such heart and devotion, it’s tough to not be entirely taken by his singing. Combine that with his charm, and boom, you have quite a talent. He just oozes sweetness on stage, and his audiences adore him for it … When David put his entire career and Mormon support on the line by publicly discussing his sexuality, I became an even bigger fan. This was a huge risk for him, and by doing so, he is making a huge difference in the issues of religion and equality.”
David said, “My manager approached me with this opportunity. It was something new to me. I hadn’t seen something like this before — a Methodist church, with a predominantly gay men’s chorus. And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so interesting, because it’s like these two worlds that I always felt were a bit conflicting in my mind and the way that I had grown up. I felt like it was an interesting opportunity to step into those two worlds together.”
David, who is a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came out as LGBTQIA+ in June 2021. Since then, he has been boldly sharing his coming out journey with his fans. He says that since coming out, he has learned to love himself more and to feel more compassion for others. He hopes to bring a better understanding between his church and the LGBTQIA+ community.
In a recent interview with Eonline, David commented:
I never asked to be gay, I tried nearly all my life to not be, I’m realizing that doesn’t work. That’s not how it works. So, I’m at this point, I just need to come to Him as I am. And a lot of people say, ‘Well, if you come to Him, he’s going to change you,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I’ve been trying that and He still hasn’t changed me, so I guess I have to just accept that that’s how I am and that He will still love me and that I’m still doing my best.’ And [regardless] if people understand that or not, I just want to make more room for people to be themselves, whatever that may mean.
In November 2021, David performed his original song “What a Wonderful Way to End a Crazy Year” at the 2021 Hollywood Christmas parade. The event aired on the CW network on Friday, 17 December 2021.
David had hoped to go on tour in 2022, but all his plans were suddenly brought to abrupt end. He had already canceled his ‘OK, All Right’ tour twice due to the worldwide pandemic. Nevertheless, he had high hopes that attempting to go on tour a third time would be the charm.
On 7 February 2022, just an hour and a half before the start of his show, David wrote a post on Instagram informing his fans that he had to cancel the performance under doctor’s orders. He wrote, “…I just got back from the doctor and by his orders I need to postpone tonight’s show and go on vocal rest.” In an Instagram post on 8 February 2022, he revealed to his fans that he was suffering from a hemorrhaged vocal cord, as well as vocal nodules.
David is slowly recovering and is back making music for his fans once again. His latest release is called "Faith In Me."
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