Raymond Myles could have only come from New Orleans. His all-too-short life was a complex and colorful journey, propelled by outsized talent and fierce ambition, burdened by prejudice and guilt, and deeply rooted in the poor but vibrant community that shaped him.
The Heartbreak Life of Raymond Myles is a music-driven documentary film about a great unsung contributor to African-American heritage, culture and community.
Driven by Raymond’s joyous and uplifting music, Heartbreak Life follows Raymond’s dramatic journey from from the everyday violence of the St. Bernard housing project; to the public schools where he taught music and steered countless young people away from gangs, drugs and unwanted pregnancies; and to the world's biggest concert stages until his shocking murder in 1998 — on the cusp of music stardom — in the projects he could not leave behind.
Like a comet shooting across the sky, Raymond was here one minute — brilliant, incandescent and unmistakably unique. And then, just as quickly, he was gone. Had he lived, who knows where his journey might have taken him.
The film explores Raymond’s poignant struggle as a bi-sexual man who yearned for acceptance and fulfillment in two unforgiving worlds: the gospel music business and the Baptist church.
Raymond was a highly visible representative of a vital but scorned minority within the black church community: worshippers who are ostracized because they are LGBTQ. Heartbreak Life lifts the veil on the established cultural norms of the black and religious communities and its coexisting gay subculture. The film asks: What is spirituality? Who decides what is moral and what is not? What makes a person good or bad?
Powered by eye-popping footage of Raymond’s electrifying performances, the film illuminates how the politics of race, class and homophobia affected Raymond’s short, turbulent life. His triumph and tragedy lay in his failure to grasp his goal just when it was within his reach, and just before he might have won the acceptance and fulfillment he craved as an artist and a man.
With its thrilling combination of soul-stirring gospel music and fresh perspective on Southern culture and religion, The Heartbreak Life of Raymond Myles takes us down those untraveled