Billy Tipton ~ Swing Jazz Piano Player

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I just came across an interesting Swing Jazz Piano Player called Billy Tipton. You can read his Bio as you scroll down, but I’d suggest you listen to his music first at these MP3 Links provided here below.

01 what is this thing called love
02 sweet georgia brown
03 don't blame me
04 begin the beguine
05 sit right down and write myself a letter
06 september in the rain
07 bernie's tune
08 take the "A" train
09 under a bucket of love
10 the man i love
11 perfidio
12 willow weep for me
13 can't help lovin' dat man
14 marie
15 delilah
16 these foolish things
17 what'll i do
18 the world is waiting for the sunrise
19 you go to my head
20 christopher columbus
21 begin the beguine
22 if i had you
23 blue skies
24 stars fell on alabama

Above MP3 Links from:
http://www.queermusicheritage.us/feb2003bt.html

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Billy Tipton ~ Bio



Billy Lee Tipton (born Dorothy Lucille Tipton, December 29, 1914 in Oklahoma City – d. January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician and bandleader who lived as a man for nearly 50 years. ~ An excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Tipton

Billy Tipton was born in 1914. He began living as a man full-time by 1940 at age 26, had a career as a jazz and swing pianist and entertainer, a common law marriage (unregistered but publicly accepted), and three sons by adoption. He was discovered to have been female-bodied after he died in 1989 due to a hemorrhaging ulcer (that he refused to have treated). Like many female-to-male transsexuals of this day he did not have genital surgery. ~ An excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender

In 1989, at the age of 74, Tipton had symptoms he attributed to emphysema and refused to call a doctor. In actuality he was suffering from a hemorrhaging peptic ulcer, which, untreated, was fatal. It was while paramedics were trying to save Tipton's life, with son William looking on, that William learned that his father was biologically female. Tipton was pronounced dead at Valley General Hospital. The coroner shared the revelation with the rest of the family. In an attempt to keep the secret, Kitty arranged for his body to be cremated. But one of their sons went public with the story. The first newspaper article was published the day after Tipton's funeral and it was quickly picked up by wire services. Stories about Tipton appeared in a variety of papers including tabloids like National Enquirer and Star, as well as more reputable papers like New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's family even made talk show appearances. ~ An excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Tipton

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Helen Keller

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Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.
Only through experience of trial and suffering
can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired,
and success achieved. ~ Helen Keller


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The Story of Helen Keller
An Excerpt by Martin Smith
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=6326



Helen Keller's fight to overcome her disabilities made her life an inspiration for millions of people. Her story is taught in schools around the world. But what is not so well known is that Helen Keller was a committed and active socialist.

"A phantom living in a no world" is how Helen Keller described the first eight years of her life. Helen was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 1880. At the age of 19 months a fever left her deaf, blind and without speech. Doctors said she was doomed to live out her life in silence and darkness. But Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone and a family friend, advised Helen's parents to employ a teacher to attempt to bring her out of her prison. The Kellers employed a young working class woman, Anne Sullivan, who herself had limited sight. Anne taught Helen to communicate by placing her hand under a water pump. As the cool water gushed over Helen's hand Anne spelled out on the other hand w – a – t – e – r.

For the first time Helen was able to give meaning to the world around her. She stopped and touched the earth, and demanded its letter name. By the end of the day she had learnt 30 words. Helen quickly mastered braille, and by the age of ten she learnt to speak by associating the vibrations in her throat with letters. The first thing she said was, "I am not dumb." At the age of 20 she attended university.

Throughout all these years Anne Sullivan was by Helen's side, laboriously spelling book after book and lecture after lecture into her hand. Helen became internationally famous when her autobiography, The Story of My Life, became a bestseller.

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