Transgender pianist who took his secret to the grave: Exhibition reveals true story of Billy Tipton who posed as a man to launch a jazz career in the '30s - and fooled lovers by wearing a prosthetic penis

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The curious case of a transgender musician whose loved ones only learned he was born a woman after his death has been brought to life in a new exhibition. 

Joy Yamusangie's exhibition Feeling Good, which is on display at London's Now Gallery, is based on Jackie Kay's award winning novel about a transgender trumpeter called Joss Moody. 

The novel, which was published in 1998, was inspired by the fascinating real life story of US musician Billy Tipton who was born Dorothy Lucille Tipton and lived as a man for 50 years. 

When Billy died in January 21, 1989 aged 74, it was revealed that he was born a woman. He had hidden this from the people he had shared his life with and even his three adopted sons.

Despite having lived with five different girlfriends, he would hide his sex by wearing a prosthetic penis and binding his chest - telling lovers that he had been in a car accident and his injuries were still healing. 

The curious case of transgender musician Billy Tipton whose loved ones only learned he was born a woman after his death has been brought to life in a new exhibition

Born Dorothy in Oklahoma City on December 29, 1914, Billy grew up in Kansas City, Missouri.

After his parents divorced when he was just four-years-old, he was raised by an aunt.

As a high school student, he went by the nickname 'Tippy' and became interested in music (especially jazz), playing piano and saxophone.

However he was not allowed to join the all-male band at his high school because of his gender. 

After returning to Oklahoma for his final year of high school, he joined the school band at Connors State College High School.

Aged 19, he began binding his breasts, wearing a prosthetic penis, and dressing like a man in order to fit in with the typical jazz band image of the era. 

When Billy died in January 21, 1989 aged 74, it was revealed that he was born a woman. He had hidden this from his the five women he had shared his life with and even his three adopted sons (pictured centre, in his band) 

His  music career began in the mid-1930s when he led a band for radio broadcasts. 

As his career began to take off, he 'decided to permanently take on the role of a male musician', changing his name from Dorothy to Billy Lee Tipton.

In 1934, he began living with a woman named Non Earl Harrell, who is believed to have known the truth about his sex. 

In 1936, he became the leader of a band playing on KFXR radio, before joining  Louvenie's Western Swingbillies in 1938.

The musician began touring the Midwest in 1940 with  Scott Cameron's band, with his relationship with Non coming to an end. 

By then, Billy, then 26, was living as a man in both his professional and private life.  His next relationship, with a singer known only as 'June', lasted for several years. 

Joy Yamusangie's exhibition Feeling Good, which is on display at London's Now Gallery, is based on Jackie Kay's award winning novel about a transgender trumpeter called Joss Moody - which was inspired by Tipton's life 

Billy began keeping the secret of his extrinsic sexual characteristics from his girlfriend by telling her he had been in a serious car accident that resulted in damaged genitals.

Meanwhile he said he tightly bound his chest due to an injury to his ribs which never healed correctly.

He began performing in Missouri, Cotton Club with George Meyer's band before touring with the Ross Carlyle Band for a while.

After breaking up with June, he lived with another woman Betty Cox, who was 18 years old when they became involved. 

She later remembered him as 'the most fantastic love of my life' and said their relationship was passionately heterosexual.

Betty said they had a full sex life, even believing she once had a miscarriage.

However there were strict rules to having sex with Billy - the pair only had sex in the dark, he never removed his underwear or allowed himself to be touched below the waist.

Meanwhile he was also very strict about being disturbed in the bathroom.

In 1949, he began touring the Pacific Northwest with Meyer, with the band becoming more and more successful.

They began performing at the Boulevard Club in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, sharing the bill with others such as The Ink Spots, the Delta Rhythm Boys, and Billy Eckstine.

He started playing piano at a club in Washington in 1951, before launching the Billy Tipton Trio, which included Dick O'Neil on drums, and Kenny Richards (and later Ron Kilde) on bass. The trio gained local popularity.

In 1954, his relationship with Cox ended, and he entered into a new relationship with a woman named Maryann.

In 1956, while on tour performing at King's Supper Club in Santa Barbara, California, a talent scout from Tops Records heard Billy's band play and offered them a record contract.

The trio went on to record two albums: Sweet Georgia Brown and Billy Tipton Plays Hi-Fi on Piano, both released early in 1957. 

The albums sold 17,678 copies, a 'respectable' sum for a small independent record label.

By 1958, the Billy Tipton Trio was offered a position as house band at the Holiday Hotel casino in Reno, Nevada, as well as opening for fellow musician Liberace. 

Yet Billy declined the offer and instead moved to Spokane, Washington with Mary-Ann where he worked as a talent broker and the trio performed weekly.

Diane Middlebrook, who penned Billy's 1998 Tipton biography Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton, suggested he turned down the job because he feared the attention would lead to his identity being revealed. 

His relationship soon hit the rocks after Mary-Ann discovered he had become involved with nightclub dancer Kathleen 'Kitty' Kelly.

Despite the unusual start to their relationship, Billy and Kelly settled down together in 1961. 

Kelly never suspected the truth about Billy's gender; the duo were comfortable having a non-sexual relationship with one another, and did not share a bedroom.

In 1998, Jackie Kay penned an award winning novel about a transgender trumpeter called Joss Moody which was inspired by Billy's story 

However they did adopt three sons, John, Scott, and William. The children later recalled how there were hints their father was different to other parents. 

They said he never swam, rarely shaved and never exposed himself in front of the children.

Scott recalled:  'Dad always wore a T-shirt and a belt with an [athletic] cup on the outside of his underwear.'

By 1979 the family had fallen apart, and Scott and Jon, who fought with Kitty, moved out. 

A few months later so did Billy, who moved into a mobile home. 

Jon, who suffered a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1981, explained: 'He was always there for me.

'If it wasn't for my dad, I wouldn't have made it. The doctors wanted to amputate my leg, and Dad made them work to save it. 

'He was there every day for the six months I was in the hospital.' 

Billy resumed his relationship with Maryann, who reportedly once discovered his birth certificate.

However she said there was no response to questions other than a 'terrible look'. 

In the late 1970s, worsening arthritis forced him to retire from music.

By 1989, Billy, then-74, started suffering symptoms which he attributed to the emphysema he had contracted from heavy smoking.

He was actually suffering from a hemorrhaging peptic ulcer which, left untreated, was fatal. 

Billy refused to call the doctor and, when paramedics were called to his home to try to save his life, it was too late. 

They were the ones who revealed he was born a woman, asking his son: 'Did your father ever have a sex change?'

The boys, Jon, then-aged 26, Scott also 26, and Billy Jr., 19, had never suspected their father was female. 

Apparently, the information 'came as a shock to nearly everyone, including the women who had considered themselves his wives, as well as his sons and the musicians who had traveled with him'.

According to the New York Times, William later said: 'He was the only father I ever knew. 

'He was there for us. He didn't go out and get drunk and beat on us.

'We had a close relationship. We would go to movies.

'It was more like good buddies. We went out to dinner, or we just sat and talked. It never occurred to me he was a woman.'

British artist Joy Yamusangie's exhibition Feeling Good is currently on display at London's Now Gallery 

To complicate matters, he left two wills -  one handwritten and not notarized that left everything to William Jr.; and the second, notarized, leaving everything to John Clark, the first child the Tiptons adopted.

A court upheld the first will, and William inherited almost everything, with John and Scott receiving one dollar each.

Two of his adopted sons later changed their names not long after learning of Billy's assigned sex, because they felt he had behaved deceptively.

Despite that, he was remembered as 'a perfect gentleman' by his Dave Sobol, his longtime friend and agent remembers him.