JAMAICAN singer-songwriter Diana King is making moves to undergo top surgery.

The Shy Guy singer, who came out as a lesbian in 2012, has taken to the crowd-funding platform, GoFundMe, to raise the money to undergo the surgery which is performed on the chest to remove breast tissue and produce a more masculine appearance in the chest.

“Two years ago I came out again to myself as non-binary, multi-spirit, feminine, masculine, everything in-between or just spirit. Genderless,” King shared on the GoFundMe page with the hope to raise US$18,000 for the surgery, and other personal social media platforms.

Arguably one of the most successful female Jamaican acts, King noted that this move honours herself and is advocating for the freedom to be exactly who she is at any given time, without shame.

“I’ve been thinking about this for decades, but what I was was feeling was unheard of, especially in my time and culture, so every time it came up I’d push it down so far I almost forgot. But it never stopped poking me.”

“After coming out, I felt freed and became more open to knowing myself on a deeper level. I wanted to know why I was so uncomfortable in my body. Why I quite fit with lesbian and slowly I started to regain memories I had blocked. I started to research and found others who were like me. So in 2017 I decided to do top surgery,” King continued.

The singer further shared that top surgery is very expensive and she had begun working and saving towards the procedure, but this was wiped out with the onset of the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown of the entertainment industry.

The 51-year-old noted that as the head of her household, which includes a granddaughter who has been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. This granddaughter is the child of King’s daughter, Shalamar Diana Wright, who died last year.

“I am an extremely private person but I also believe in keeping it real, and honesty is sometimes contrary to privacy… I am learning to accept that it is OK to ask for help without shame. This is not a time for me to explain myself to those who may not understand. I will be 52 in November and the fact is, it’s never too late to choose to start living your best self and authentic life. Time is not promised. This is simply who I am. Life has new meaning and I approve,” said King.

The fund was launched last Friday, and at midday on Sunday had already raised US$1,700 from three donors.

King was born in Spanish Town, St Catherine, and attended Wolmer’s High for Girls, but opted for a life in entertainment before completing high school. She was a member of City Heat band and began performing on the local hotel circuit.

By the early 1990s King was signed to Sony Music and released the single Stir it Up, a remake of the Bob Marley classic, which made it onto the soundtrack of the film Cool Runnings. This was followed by the smash hit Shy Guy, which topped charts worldwide, was included on the Bad Boys soundtrack and was the lead single for the début album Tougher Than Love, which also was hugely successful.

Other singles from the album were Love Triangle and Ain’t Nobody. She would follow up with the album Think Like a Girl, and over the years the singles have included L-L-Lies, When We Were Kings, Say A Little Prayer (which was included on the soundtrack of My Best Friend’s Wedding) and Summer Breezin’.

In 2018 King announced that she married her long-time partner Jamaican violinist Mijanne Webster.