Billy Tipton

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Billy Tipton

Billy Tipton was a jazz musician who achieved only modest regional success in the 40's and 50's.
His career included live radio shows with Big Bands and evolved into jazz quartets and trios
playing in night clubs. In his 74 years, in addition to being a band leader and a booking agent,
he was a husband 5 times and adopted three children. After he died in 1989 in Spokane,
a coroner revealed that he was much more, and the mysterious story ran wild on the
wire services: Billy Tipton was a woman.

It seems that Tipton's decision to adopt a male disguise was likely motivated, at least at first,
by practical reasons: It was the depression, people were desperate for work, and it was
especially difficult for women to get work playing in jazz bands. So, at 19, Dorothy Tipton began
cross-dressing to get a job in a band. She cut her hair, put on men's clothing, bound her breasts
and re-christened herself Billy Tipton, eventually fooling 5 wives and the world for more than
50 years. Tipton left no letters of explanation, so we can only speculate on what drove him,
but we can learn much of what there is to know from a biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook
called "Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton."

Recordings this page
Photos & The Book
Clippings (after death)
Clippings (before death)
Songs About Billy

Recordings