Billy Tipton
1914-1989
William Lee Tipton was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. For decades, Tipton assumed a male gender identity. Tipton’s female birth sex was not publicly revealed until after his death, and the revelation came as a surprise to family and friends.
Tipton grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was raised by an aunt after his parents divorced when he was four. As a high school student, Tipton went by the nickname “Tippy” and became interested in music (especially jazz), playing piano and saxophone. Tipton was not allowed to join the all-male school band at Southwest High School. He returned to Oklahoma for his final year of high school and joined the school band at Connors State College High School.
Around 1933, Tipton started binding his breasts and dressing as a man to fit in with the typical jazz band image of the era. As Tipton began a more serious music career, he permanently took on the identity of a male musician, adopting the name Billy Lee Tipton. By 1940, Tipton was living as a man in private life as well.
During the 1930s and 40s, Tipton toured with various bands throughout the Northwestern U.S., gaining popularity on radio and in live performance. At times, he shared the bill with other noted musicians such as The Ink Spots, the Delta Rhythm Boys, and Billy Eckstine. Tipton began playing piano alone in 1951 and then started the Billy Tipton Trio. During a performance in Santa Barbara, California, a talent scout from Tops Records heard them play and got them a contract. The Billy Tipton Trio recorded two albums of jazz standards for Tops: Sweet Georgia Brown and Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi on Piano, both released early in 1957. After the albums’ success, the Billy Tipton Trio was offered a position as house band at the Holiday Hotel casino in Reno, Nevada, and Tops Records invited the trio to record four more albums. Tipton declined both offers, choosing instead to move to Spokane, Washington, where he worked as a talent broker, and the trio performed weekly. In the late 1970s, worsening arthritis forced Tipton to retire from music.
Tipton was never legally married, but there were five women who called themselves Mrs. Tipton at various points. Tipton kept the secret of his extrinsic sexual characteristics from them by telling them he had been in a serious car accident. In one of his relationships, he adopted three sons. He concealed his identity until his death.