Stephanie Johnson, who performed as a burlesque dancer in New York in the 1960s and ’70s under the stage name Tanqueray, and whose vivid stories of that grittier time in the city’s history later turned her into a viral social media star, died on Oct. 11 at her home in Manhattan. She was 81.
Her death was confirmed by her son Mitchell Springle, who said she had suffered a series of strokes.
The world was introduced to Ms. Johnson in 2019 through the social media account Humans of New York, which features interviews with everyday New Yorkers.
Its creator, Brandon Stanton encountered Ms. Johnson on the street in her Chelsea neighborhood and was initially struck by her style — that November day, she was dressed in a red patchwork coat with a fur hat and cuffs. He was soon reeled in by her colorful tales, and by the unfiltered way she told them.
“My stripper name was Tanqueray,” Ms. Johnson said in the first of three Instagram posts for Humans of New York. “Back in the seventies, I was the only Black girl making white girl money. I danced in so many mob clubs that I learned Italian.”
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