Tanqueray
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- €14.99
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- €14.99
Publisher Description
Reeling from a brutal childhood, immersed in a world of go-go dancers and hustlers, dirty cops and gangsters, Stephanie Johnson was determined to become the fiercest thing the city had ever seen. And she succeeded. This is her story.
The storytelling phenomenon Humans of New York has captivated a global audience of millions with personal narratives that illuminate the human condition. But one story stands apart from the rest . . .
She is a woman as fabulous, unbowed, and irresistible as the city she lives in.
Meet Tanqueray.
Humans of New York featured a photo of a woman in an outrageous fur coat and hat she made herself. She instantly captured the attention of millions. Her name is Stephanie Johnson, but she’s better known as 'Tanqueray,' a born performer who emerged from a troubled youth to become one of the best-known burlesque dancers in New York City.
Real, raw, and unapologetically honest, this is the full story of Tanqueray as told by Brandon Stanton – a memoir filled with never-before-told stories of Tanqueray's struggles and triumphs through good times and bad, personal photos from her own collection, and glimpses of New York City from back in the day when the name 'Tanqueray' was on everyone’s lips.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two years after Johnson shared her story on Stanton's popular Instagram account Humans of New York, she commands the spotlight again in this hypnotizing account of her past as a Black burlesque dancer. Of their first encounter in 2020, Stanton writes in the foreword that the septuagenarian immediately captivated him—and later more than three million Instagram users—with tales of dancing in New York City in the 1970s under her stage name, Tanqueray. With help from Stanton, Johnson returns to those stories to bare it all on the page. Recalling the many travails she faced before finally running away to New York City, Johnson details her childhood growing up with an abusive mother in 1940s Albany, N.Y.; a teenage pregnancy with a married man; and a prison stint for burglary. Forced to give up the baby for adoption, Johnson moved to the city with dreams of dancing on Broadway and eventually started performing in adult theaters. Johnson's storytelling skills are undeniable as she dispenses tantalizing anecdotes, from bumping elbows with James Brown to hustling side gigs, like sewing custom sequined G-strings from dental floss. While her exploits are titillating, Johnson reminds readers that "underneath all the laughs and the gags, it was always about one thing: survival." This has it all: humor, intrigue, and heart.
