Billy Tipton was a successful jazz musician and band leader in the United States from 1936 until the 1970s when he retired. He was a transgender man and his death was from natural causes when his birth sex was revealed and subsequently media-sensationalized.

A documentary film about Billy was made called No Ordinary Man, which seeks to dispel this sensationalism and give reality to Billy’s life and gender, as a transgender man. He adopted three sons, and loved and dated women.

He lived many years with many different partners, one at a time, four of which referred to themselves as Mrs. Tipton, at least for a time. In 1956, his band, The Billy Tipton trio, was signed to Tops Records, and in one year had sold 17,678 records, fetching a handsome sum. Only one year after great commercial success, he unceremoniously left show business and moved to Spokane, Washington. He remained there until his death, living with his partner and sons.

It is purported that he did not accept the chance for further fame and employment offers in show business to be able to continue to live his life truthfully as a man without his birth sex being exposed by that fame, but many historians believe Billy simply got tired of show business and just wanted to live an average life with his family instead. He died as a result of not seeking medical care for a treatable illness, many historians say, due to the fact he was transgender he avoided medical treatment to protect his privacy.