Billy Lee Tipton (born as Dorothy Lucille Tipton; December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician and bandleader who lived as a man for nearly 50 years. Tipton found modest success as a professional musician, but until his dying moments, the fact that Tipton had been born biologically female was known only to two female cousins and perhaps some of his paramours as well.
Dorothy Tipton was born in Oklahoma City but grew up in K...
more
Billy Lee Tipton (born as Dorothy Lucille Tipton; December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician and bandleader who lived as a man for nearly 50 years. Tipton found modest success as a professional musician, but until his dying moments, the fact that Tipton had been born biologically female was known only to two female cousins and perhaps some of his paramours as well.
Dorothy Tipton was born in Oklahoma City but grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was raised by an aunt after his parents' divorce. After the divorce, he rarely saw his father, G.W. Tipton, a pilot who sometimes took him for airplane rides. As a high school student, he went by the nickname "Tippy" and became interested in music, especially jazz. He studied piano and saxophone, but his school had a policy forbidding girls to play in the school band. He returned to Oklahoma for his final year of high school and joined the school band there.
In 1933, Tipton began dressing as a man, which allowed...
less
