Award-winning singer Ray Boltz, who retired from contemporary Christian music a few years ago after selling approximately 4.5 million records, recently announced that he is gay.

In an interview published Sept. 12, Boltz, 55, told the gay magazine The Washington Blade that he revealed his years of struggle with homosexuality to his family on Dec. 26, 2004.

"I'd denied it ever since I was a kid," he told the Blade. "I became a Christian, I thought that was the way to deal with this and I prayed hard and tried for 30-some years and then at the end, I was just going, 'I'm still gay. I know I am.' And I just got to the place where I couldn't take it anymore—when I was going through all this darkness, I thought, 'Just end this.'

Boltz and Carol, his wife of 33 years, separated in the summer of 2005 and their divorce was finalized early this year. The magazine said she has become involved with the gay advocacy group Soulforce.

Perhaps best known for his song "Thank You," which won the Gospel Music Association Dove Awards' Song of the Year in 1990, Boltz scored with other hits, including "Watch the Lamb," "The Anchor Holds" and "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb."

"I had won awards, performed in front of thousands of people and sold millions of records," Boltz said on his Web site. "Still, I believed that if people knew who I really was, I would never be accepted. During the last few years I've learned that there are many people who feel the same way I did."