Billy Lee Tipton (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. He is notable for having been posthumously outed as a transgender man.

Tipton's music career began in the mid-1930s when he led a band for radio broadcasts. He played in various dance bands in the 1940s and recorded two trio albums for a small record label in the mid-1950s. Thereafter, he worked as a talent broker. He stopped performing in the late 1970s due to arthritis.

Tipton lived and identified as male for most of his adult life. After his death in 1989, paramedics discovered he was assigned female at birth, to the surprise of his friends and family. Tabloids and national newspapers picked up the story, scandalously<!--as in, "pertaining to a scandal; with moral outrage"--> reporting that "he was a she".

Tipton is considered<!--by GLAAD, who we trust for this sort of thing--> a prominent figure in transgender history in the United States. His story inspired various fictional retellings, including the 1998 novel Trumpet, and a 2020 documentary film, No Ordinary Man.

Early life

Born as Dorothy Lucille Tipton in Oklahoma City on December 29, 1914, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was raised by an aunt after his parents divorced when he was four.

Around 1933, Tipton started binding his breasts and presenting stereotypically masculine traits.

Career

Early work

In 1936, Tipton was the leader of a band playing on KFXR radio.

As George Meyer's band became more successful, they began getting more work, performing at the Boulevard Club in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, sharing the bill with others such as The Ink Spots, the Delta Rhythm Boys, and Billy Eckstine. Tipton declined both offers, choosing instead to move to Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a talent broker and the trio performed weekly.

Personal life

Tipton was never legally married, but five women called themselves Mrs. Tipton during his life. Tipton's sex was reportedly concealed from the four women who would later call themselves "Mrs. Tipton". In 1954, Tipton's relationship with Cox ended, and he then entered a relationship with a woman named Maryann. and Star as well as People, The New York Times and The Seattle Times. Members of Tipton's family made talk show appearances as well.

Tipton left wills: one handwritten and not notarized that left everything to William Jr.; and the second, notarized, leaving everything to John Clark, the first child the Tiptons adopted. According to a 2009 episode of the documentary program The Will: Family Secrets Revealed, which featured interviews with all three sons, it was revealed that a final court judgment awarded all three sons an equal share of his wife Kitty Tipton's estate (not Billy Tipton's), which, after lawyers' fees, amounted to $35,000 for each son. Two of his adopted sons changed their names not long after learning of Tipton's assigned gender, as they felt Tipton behaved deceptively.

  • "The Legend of Billy Tipton", by the punk band The Video Dead, is about the story of Billy Tipton.
  • Soita minulle Billy (Call me Billy), a Finnish play with Joanna Haartti playing Tipton, presented at Theatre Jurka in 2011 and again at the 2012 Helsinki Festival.
  • The Slow Drag (1996), by Carson Kreitzer, a "jazz cabaret" with a live band onstage featuring the character, Johnny Christmas, based on Tipton.
  • Trumpet, a 1998 novel by Jackie Kay, tells the story of fictional Scottish jazz musician Joss Moody, inspired by Tipton.
  • The Tiptons Sax Quartet, previously known as The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, is a jazz saxophone quartet from Seattle, Washington. The name of the quartet was inspired by Tipton.
  • No Ordinary Man, a documentary film about Tipton by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

Discography

References

  • Billy Tipton photo timeline