Billy Tipton

*This is about the American musician. For other people called Tipton, see Tipton (disambiguation).*

**Billy Lee Tipton** (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician and bandleader. Tipton had been assigned female gender at birth.

## Early life 
Tipton was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. His aunt raised him after his parents' divorced. He became interested in music in high school, especially jazz. He studied piano and saxophone. He went back to Oklahoma for his last year of high school and joined the school band there. His nickname in high school was "Tippy".

Tipton later took his father's nickname, Billy, when he started a music career. He also began to try to appear to be male by dressing to hide his breasts. At first, Tipton only behaved as a male while performing. However, by 1940 Tipton was living as a man all the time.

After the albums' success, the Holiday Hotel in Reno, Nevada asked them to become play there regularly. Tops Records asked the trio to record four more albums. Tipton said no both offers. Instead, he moved to Spokane, Washington worked as an agent. The trio played every week at Allen's Tin Pan Alley as the house band. He played mainly swing standards and less jazz, even though he preferred jazz. His performances also included skits like vaudeville performers did. He imitated celebrities like Liberace and Elvis Presley. In some of these comedy skits, he played a little girl.

## Personal life 
Early in his career, Tipton appeared as a male only as a musician. He appeared as a woman at other times. He lived with a woman named Non Earl Harrell. Other musicians thought this was a lesbian relationship. The relationship ended in 1942. Tipton's next relationship was with a singer known only as "June". This lasted for several years. Tipton kept the secret of his physical sexual characteristics a secret from Betty with a story. Tipton said that he had been in a serious car accident which had badly damaged his genitals and broken some ribs. He said he had to wear bandages protect his damaged chest. He told his female partners this story later in his life. Tipton was never legally married, but several women had drivers' licenses naming them Mrs. Tipton. 

In 1960, Tipton ended the relationship with Cox. He settle down with nightclub dancer and stripper, Kitty Kelly (later known as Kitty Oakes). Her professional name was "The Irish Venus." They were involved with their local PTA and with the Boy Scouts. They adopted three sons, John, Scott, and William. After Tipton died, Kitty gave several interviews about him and their relationship. In early interviews, she said, “He gave up everything... There were certain rules and regulations in those days if you were going to be a musician.” She was taking about trying to be part of 1920−30s music industry. His son William described Tipton as a good father who loved to go on Scout camping trips.

## Works inspired by Tipton 
* The 1991 song "Tipton" by folksinger Phranc is a tribute to Billy Tipton.
*"Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is a 1995 short movie based on the life and career of Billy Tipton.
* *Stevie Wants to Play the Blues* was a play based on Tipton's life written by Eduardo Machado and performed in Los Angeles.
* *The Slow Drag* was a play based on Tipton's life by Carson Kreitzer performed in New York City and London.
* An opera based on Tipton's life, *Billy*, was staged in Olympia, Washington.
* *Trumpet,* a novel based on Tipton's life, is by Jackie Kay.
* *The Opposite Sex is Neither*, a theatrical revue by noted trans woman Kate Bornstein, features Billy Tipton.
* "Billy's Thing" is an unreleased track by Jill Sobule.
* "The Legend of Billy Tipton," by the punk band The Video Dead, is about the story of Billy Tipton.
* The band The Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet took its name from Billy Tipton on learning his story.
"Kill Me, Por Favor" is a short story including a section about Billy Tipton in Ry Cooder's 2011 volume entitled "Los Angeles Stories". Pub. City Lights Books 2011.

## Recordings 
* *Sweet Georgia Brown* Tops Records L1522 (1957)
* *Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi on Piano* Tops Records L1534 (1957)

## References 
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## Other websites 
* Billy Tipton photo timeline 
* Music from both Billy Tipton Trio albums
* Excerpt from biography by Diane Middlebrook 
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