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In January 2006, Outlook Weekly and The Gay Ohio History Initiative formed a partnership with the Ohio Historical Society to preserve, archive and curate Ohio's LGBT history and culture. This is a ground-breaking partnership between Ohio's preeminent history preservation organization and LGBT Ohioans.

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Billy Strayhorn

1915 – 1967; born in Dayton, Ohio

Billy Strayhorn

Rescued from “mainstream obscurity” with the publication of Lush Life, the 1997 biography by David Hadju, Billy Strayhorn was a composer and arranger whom Duke Ellington described as “my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine.” Two of his most famous compositions are “Take the A-Train,” which became Ellington’s signature tune, and “Lush Life,” a jazz standard covered by the likes of Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., and Queen Latifah.

The reason Strayhorn languished in “mainstream obscurity” for much of his career, according to Hadju:

“…was certainly connected to his homosexuality. So comfortable with his sexual orientation that he made no effort to deny it or to play-act straight in the company of ‘beards,’ as many gay men in the performing arts felt pressured to do in the 1940s and ’50s. At the same time, Strayhorn recognized that with his fearless choice of openness came grave liabilities. He made a great compromise. In order to be true to himself as a gay man, he sacrificed wide-scale public attention, giving up not merely the physical accoutrements of fame but the satisfaction of being recognized by the people who listened to his music. ‘By avoiding a great deal of attention at a time when public expectations were quite different from those of [a later day], Billy was able to be entirely himself at all times,’ said the cabaret singer and pianist Bobby Short. ‘For that, I envy him.’”

In 2009, Strayhorn was the subject of a week-long celebration in his hometown: http://www.cityfolk.org/celebratingstrayhorn/

SOURCES:
“Celebrating Billy Strayhorn.” http://www.cityfolk.org, 30 October 2009.

Ethier, Scott. “In Ellington’s Shadow: The Life of Billy Strayhorn.” Humanities, November/December 2006, Vol. 27.6, http://www.neh.gov/, 30 October 2009.

Hajdu, David. Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn.New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996.

Leur, Walter van de. Something To Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn. New York : Oxford University Press, 2002.

Stone, Sonjia. “Biography: William Thomas Strayhorn.” Billy Strayhorn Songs, Inc. 1983. http://www.billystrayhorn.com, 8 October 2009.

Theophano, Teresa. “Strayhorn, William Thomas (1915-1967).” 14 August 2004. glbtq: The Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. http://www.glbtq.com, 8 October 2009.

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