Delilah
Tops L1534
1957
From Tipton's Wiki Page: Having split over differences in opinion with his wife, nightclub dancer and stripper Kitty Kelly (Kitty Oakes) on how to raise their adopted sons, Tipton moved into a mobile home and lived in poverty until his death.
In 1989, at the age of 74, Tipton had symptoms he attributed to emphysema and refused to call a doctor. Actually 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 female assigned at birth. Tipton was pronounced dead at Valley General Hospital. The coroner shared this 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 such as National Enquirer and Star, as well as more reputable papers such as New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's family even made talk show appearances.
Two wills were left by Tipton: one handwritten and not notarized which left everything to William Jr.; and the second, notarized, leaving everything to Jon Clark.[8] A court upheld the first will, and William inherited almost everything, with John and Scott receiving one dollar each.
From the back cover: Billy Tipton is the lad pictured on the front cover between the pulchritude. (As Bob Hope would say, "Pulchritude, that's highbrow for gorgeous gals.") But there's nothing highbrow about Billy or his superb musicianship on the eighty eights. He's an Oklahoma boy, Oklahoma City, to be precise, who was born in 1919.
As a youngster his family moved on to Kansas City, Missouri where he studied at The Horner Conservatory of Music after graduation at Southwest High School. He continued his schooling at Oklahoma Junior A&M College, where he also did some sax tooting in between studies.
It was after getting out of college that his piano playing really began in earnest when he took a job in a small and smoky honky tonk in Oklahoma City. The fans thought him "the most" right from the start, and moved him up to a much wider audience at Radio Station KOMA, Oklahoma City.
Next came a series of "going places" jobs that began with Scott Cameron's band, a mid-western favorite of the '40s, then two and a half years at Joplin, Missouri's Cotton Club and again back to radio, this time at Station KWTO, Springfield, Mo. By this time Billy had played enough piano and gained an amount of superb skill, feeling and imagination to rank him among the greatest. His top talent has been displayed from coast to coast in many of America's smartest supper clubs, such as Ciro's, Hollywood; College Inn, Chicago; Latin Quarter, New York and many others.
Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man
Marie
Delilah
These Foolish Things
What'll I Do
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
You Go To My Head
Christopher Columbus
Begin The Beguine
If I Had You
Blue Skies
Stars Fell On Alabama
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