Josey Greenwell, an “out-and-proud” country singer who topped the bill of Pride gigs and appeared on the cover of gay magazines such as DNA (pictured) has rebranded himself as a straight artist after being dropped by his label.

Greenwell deleted all social media profiles associated with his identity six to eight months ago, as well as a Wikipedia entry and the majority of his YouTube videos, though we managed to track down videos of the singer and model performing a cover of Katy Perry’s ‘ET’ as as well as a performance ay Detroit Pride in 2012.

After signing a new deal with Conway Records, new pages baring the identity of Greenwell were set up under the name of Nate Green. The 29-year old singer has since released his ‘debut’ single ‘Wild and Free’, which is accompanied by a video (see bottom of article) that sees the singer seducing a woman in its opening scene and brandishing a gun and other stereotypical alpha male clichés.

The Kentucky-born singer has also taken a more extreme approach to moderating his social networks, with public comments relating to his sexuality being deleted. One fan who persisted in posting questions relating to the issue was messaged by Nate Green who stated that he would take legal action if the fan continued to post gay-related questions on his page.

Greenwell originally relocated to Nashville aged 19 and signed a deal, but when the record company discovered he was gay, he was released from his contract. In an interview with DNA magazine in 2011, the singer said, “After we had been recording for months, they found out I was gay and dropped me and the debut album wasn’t released. I ended up finishing the project myself and spent all that year promoting it myself and trying to get any kind of help I could.

The label was alleged to have told Greenwell that the music industry “wasn’t ready” for something as controversial as an out gay male country singer. Reflecting on the incident, Greenwell told in the same interview, “Music should be about talent and not sexuality, but I’m proud of mine nonetheless. It took me a long time to be ok with the fact that what happened with the label wasn’t ok to do”

When asked for comment BNA Talent Group. who represented Greenwell in 2010 said, “We no longer represent either persona at this time, but BNA booked him as an openly gay artist with a gay club in upstate New York. The club loved him”.

While the formerly gay artist’s new identity is not going down well with the LGBT community, the Nate Green brand is already finding a new following amongst the young female demographic – the 29 year-old was voted ‘10 of the Hottest Guys You’ve Ever Seen in Country Music’ by Teen.com.

Greenwell is not the first to rebrand after unsuccessful beginnings – BRIT award-winning singer Lana Del Rey released an album independently in 2010 under her real name Lizzie Grant before signing to a major label and releasing her ‘first’ album, the multi-million selling Born To Die under the Del Rey moniker.

Prior to her Universal-funded relaunch, the 29 year-old singer’s original debut album was deleted from iTunes, though has remained available through illegal file-sharing amongst fans.

What do you think, is Greenwell’s decision an immoral one, or should he be allowed to promote whichever identity he chooses to gain success with his music in a genre that is less liberal than the pop industry? Tweet us @TheOutmost

Watch the ‘Wild and Free’ video below.