Billy Tipton
Early life
Tipton was born as Dorothy Lucille Tipton in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. She grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where she was raised by an aunt after her parents' divorce. After the divorce, she rarely saw her father, G.W. Tipton, a pilot who sometimes took her for airplane rides. As a high school student, Tipton became interested in music, especially jazz.
Early career
In 1933, Tipton began dressing like a man, which allowed her to blend with the other members of the jazz bands she played with in small Oklahoma bars. As she began a more serious music career, she decided to adopt a male persona, calling herself by her father's nickname, Billy, and presenting herself consistently as male. She had a face which could easily pass as male, so she could bind her breasts and pad her pants to create a believable illusion of masculinity. The change to life as a man made it possible for Tipton to continue a career in jazz, where opportunities for women were more limited. At first, she was male only in her public persona, but by 1940 she was presenting herself as male both publicly and privately.
Later career
Tipton began playing piano alone at the Elks club in Longview, Washington. In Longview, he started the Billy Tipton Trio, which consisted of Tipton on piano, Dick O'Neil on drums, and Kenny Richards (and later Ron Kilde) on bass. The trio grew more successful locally, until a talent scout from Tops Records heard them play at King's Supper Club, in Santa Barbara, California. Richards later said that he had no idea that Tipton was anything other than male. With Tops Records, the Billy Tipton Trio recorded two albums, "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi on Piano," both released early in 1957. The albums were Tipton versions of standards including "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," "Willow Weep for Me," "What'll I Do," and "Don't Blame Me". In 1957, the albums sold 17,678 copies.
After the albums' success, the Billy Tipton Trio was offered a position as house band at the Holiday Hotel, in Reno, Nevada. Tipton declined the offer to go to Reno, and also ignored an offer from Tops Records to record four more albums. He moved instead to Spokane, Washington, working as a talent broker and playing with his trio every week at Allen's Tin Pan Alley. He played mainly swing standards, and not the jazz he preferred, but occasionally worked a little jazz into the performances. His performances included skits in which, in the vaudeville tradition, he imitated celebrities like Liberace and Elvis Presley. In some of these sketches, he played a little girl, and though he never impersonated an adult woman, he did make jokes about homosexuality.
He finished his career in Spokane, his trio playing as the house band at Allen's Tin Pan Alley as he mentored young musicians at the Dave Sobol Theatrical Agency. Billy Tipton retired from music in the 1970's, when he found it difficult to play piano with increasing arthritis.
Family life
Early in her career, Tipton cross-dressed only professionally, and still lived in her private life as a woman. She spent those early years living with a woman named Non Earl Harrell, in a relationship which other musicians recognized as lesbian. The relationship ended in 1942.
Tipton's next relationship, with a singer named June, lasted for several years.
For seven years, Tipton lived with Betty Cox, who was 19 years old when they became involved. According to Betty, they had a normal heterosexual relationship which included sex. He kept the secret of his biological sex by telling Betty that he had been in a serious car accident which required him to bind his chest to protect broken ribs, and which had badly damaged his genitals. This is the story he would also tell subsequent women with whom he was involved. Betty was not faithful to Tipton, but was fond of him nonetheless, and remembered him as "the most fantastic love of my life"
After Betty ended their relationship, he quickly became involved with Maryann Catanach, a prostitute. According to Maryann, theirs was a normal sexual relationship, and she did not know that Tipton was biologically female, since he dressed in private, had sex only in the dark, and preferred to touch, not to be touched.
Two of Tipton's female cousins were the only persons privy to both sides of his life, and Tipton kept in contact with them for years.
In 1960, he ended a relationship with a prostitute to be married to nightclub dancer and stripper Kitty Kelly (later Oakes), who was known professionally as "The Irish Venus". Tipton was never legally married, but several women had drivers' licenses identifying them as Mrs. Tipton. Kitty said that they never had sex, but had an otherwise normal life. They were involved with their local PTA and with the Boy Scouts. They adopted three sons, John, Scott, and William. Although Kitty denied having any knowledge that she was married to a transman, John and Scott did not believe her. William described Tipton as a good father who loved to go on Scout camping trips.
Their adopted sons became difficult to manage during their adolescence. Because of the couple's ongoing arguments over how they should raise the boys, Tipton left Kitty, moved into a mobile home with their sons, and resumed his old relationship with Maryann. He remained there until his death a year later.
Death and its aftermath
Tipton finished his life living in poverty in a mobile home park. In 1989, at the age of 74, he believed that he was suffering the effects of emphysema and refused to call a doctor. What he was really suffering from was a hemorrhaging ulcer, which, untreated, was fatal. It was while paramedics were trying to save Tipton's life that his watching son, William, learned for the first time that his father was biologically female, a secret which the coroner soon revealed to his family.
Tipton was pronounced dead at Valley General Hospital, and Kitty arranged for his body to be cremated in an attempt to keep Billy's secret. But one of Billy's sons gave an interview, and the story was seized upon by the media, who eagerly told the story despite Kitty's objections. The first newspaper article was published the day after Tipton's funeral, and was quickly picked up by wire services. There were rumors of a movie biography, and stories about Tipton appeared in a variety of papers including tabloids like National Enquirer and Star, and more serious papers like New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's family made talk-show appearances.
The family was split by disagreements after Tipton's death, and Tipton's remains were divided in two parts, half for Kitty and William, and half for John and Scott. In his will, Tipton left most of his belongings to William, and a dollar each to John and Scott.
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