Stephanie “Tanqueray” Johnson lived a life that felt larger than the stage. Born Aquila Stephanie Springle in 1944 in Albany, New York, she grew up in deep poverty under strict religious rules. As a pregnant teen, she was pushed out of her home and briefly incarcerated before fleeing to Manhattan, determined to survive on her own terms.
In New York, she reinvented herself as Tanqueray, becoming a magnetic burlesque star in the 1960s and ’70s. She designed her own rhinestone-covered costumes and built a devoted following across burlesque clubs, drag scenes, fetish spaces, and mob-run nightclubs. “Back in the seventies, I was the only Black girl making white girl money,” she once said, recalling how deeply she was immersed in the city’s underground.
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Johnson died on October 11 at her Manhattan home after a severe stroke. She was 81, according to Humans of New York and her son, Mitchell Springle. Her story reached global fame in 2019, when Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton met her in Chelsea and shared her life in a 33-part series that captivated millions. A GoFundMe raised more than $2.5 million for her medical care, and her 2022 memoir, Tanqueray, became a bestseller.
Behind the bravado was a survivor and born storyteller. As she once said, beneath all the jokes and glamour, it was always about one thing: survival.
RIP, Tanqueray—long live the legend.