Arthur “T-Boy” Ross grew up in a rough part of Detroit. He hung with a rough group until his sister, singer Diana Ross, brought him into Motown Records as a songwriter. T-Boy began a prolific and successful career as a songwriter. He collaborated with Leon Ware and the duo composed songs Marvin Gaye and Michael …
After a successful run on regional stage and summer stock, Queens-born Joy Harmon was a contestant on the final season of Groucho Marx’s game show You Bet Your Life. Groucho was so taken by Joy’s good looks and bubbly personality that she was tagged to appear regularly on his follow-up series Tell It to Groucho. …
Dee Palmer attended the Royal Academy of Music, studying composition under Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, an Oscar-nominated composer. She began her career as a freelance arranger, working with various producers at various studios. In 1968, she was referred to Terry Ellis, then manager of up-and-coming rock band Jethro Tull, as an arranger and orchestrator. Jethro …
June is Pride Month. Billy Preston was an in-demand session musician. He contributed to songs by Ray Charles, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, the Rolling Stones and, famously, the Beatles. Billy was often referred to as “the Fifth Beatle” and was the only musician ever credited on a Beatles recording. In the 70s, Billy enjoyed …
June is Pride Month. Hannah Noke’s early life is sketchy. She was born before the Commonwealth of Virginia began issuing official birth certificates. She used her mother’s name — Johnson — as a child, but registered for the draft under her birth name. It is unlikely that she saw any military service. Hannah was employed …
June is Pride Month. With a medical degree, an internship and a psychiatric residency, John E. Fryer was well equipped to face the obstacle the future held. He was critical of the Menninger Foundation, the entity at which he completed his psychiatric residency. He was very vocal regarding its homophobic policies. He faced the same …
June is Pride Month. Lee Brewster was born in a log cabin in southwestern Virginia. He worked as a file clerk for the FBI until he was fired for being a homosexual. Unfettered, he took his meager savings and headed for Manhattan, where he joined the Mattachine Society, a fledgling gay rights organization. Lee organized …
Dorothea Gray Puente grew up in an orphanage after her abusive, suicidal, alcoholic father abandoned the family and her abusive alcoholic mother died in a motorcycle accident. While at the orphanage, Dorothea claimed abuse of herself and her siblings — numbering either 6 or 17. The actual amount is unclear because Dorothea was a pathological …
Jean Willes appeared in several Three Stooges shorts, as she became a favorite of director Edward Bernds. She later landed roles opposite Clark Gable, Rita Hayworth, Bing Crosby and Paulette Goddard. She played a nurse in the original sci-fi classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In the 50s and 60s, she made a smooth transition …
After stints as a nanny and a horseback riding trainer, 21 year-old Mercedes Grabowski entered the lucrative adult film industry, using the screen name “August Ames.” She began associations with some of the top distributors of pornography and was featured in some 270 films with titles like Dirty Talk, Don’t Tell Hubby, Flesh Hunter and Naturally Delicious. August was nominated …
