Traditional wisdom says that musicians years ago all made lots of money, and those in the Spotify generation are being ripped off. And like most things in the music world, there’s as many examples that prove it as disprove it.

All the way back in 1977, Carl Bean did a song called “I Was Born This Way”. It became something of a gay anthem and has since been covered and sampled numerous times. Lady Gaga infamously covered it a few years ago, and Stuart Price sampled it under his Pour Homme alias back in 1999.

Carl Bean is now in a hospice and running a fundraiser to ease his financial worries for the time being. The target is $15,000 and the total raised, at the time of writing, is $1,745.

I note that Lady Gaga posted this on her Facebook page only on Monday…

Perhaps she could today, on his 77th birthday, give him the ultimate present in the form of a large donation to the man whom she cites as such an inspiration?