And there's Sandy, sometimes he's a girl, sometimes she's a man

[venta]

A month or so ago, enthusiasts for traditional folk-singing all over the world collectively mourned the death of Louisa Jo Killen. She had been singing traditional songs - to great acclaim - since the 1950s.

Writing an obit for her, however, comes with a logistical problem. Y'see, Louisa Jo has only been publicly known since around 2010. Up until then she was known as Louis Killen; a bearded, beer-swilling tenor who specialised in bawdy songs. All her well-known albums were recorded as Louis and almost all of her performing was done under that name, too. She came out as female at the age of 76, just three years before she died.

Now, it's considered polite to refer to someone by their chosen gender. And in general, I think you'd want to avoid referring to the fact that at some point they were living as a different gender. But if you're going to write someone's life story, then citing a woman's big breakthrough as being with an all-male band gets confusing without explanation. I've been meaning for a while to browse through some obits to see how they handled it.

The obituaries printed by the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph basically don't handle it. They both write obituaries of Louis Killen, and tack on the end that he elected to become Louisa Jo.

The American website Sing Out! does, I think, a much better job. It begins the article with an upfront note that this person has lived under two names, and then writes the rest of the article referring to "she" and "her". It also uses the multiple-purpose nickname "Lou", which I think a lot of people called Louisa Jo (I don't know whether Louis was also known as Lou at the time). This article is much shorter, and avoids a few bear-traps by not writing at all about Lou's ex-wives. English Dance & Song carries an obit in this season's edition, but it's print-only and I haven't seen a copy yet (perhaps exspelunca can report?)

So tell me, enlightened people of LJ: how would you go about writing an obit of someone who'd transitioned to a different gender after most of their major achievements? Would you write about "her ex-wife" and assume people would figure it out? I guess it's likely to be a bigger issue if someone were pioneering because of their gender (eg "first woman to do x") and then transitioned.

Or am I making a problem where none exists? This isn't something I've ever heard someone who's transitioned from one gender to another commenting upon.

Here's Lou Killen singing one of my favourite songs: Blackleg Miner

Comments

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Jan Morris's achievements as James are usually written about using 'she' and 'her' and I imagine the Obit writers will have worked this out a long time ago - Morris transitioned in 1972, so obits will have been written since (although including achievements before that). I wouldn't be too surprised if Killen's had been written and filed away more than three years ago, hence the tack-on rather than rewriting.

[venta.livejournal.com]

filed away more than three years ago, hence the tack-on rather than rewriting

I actually - foolishly - hadn't thought of that. I guess now that publications are online, you want to be the first up there with an obit, but I would still have thought it was worth spending an hour re-writing.

I actually think it'd be less tricky to write an obit of someone who'd transitioned some time before their death, and had continued achievements in the same field. Presumably, people who were interested in James' work would also be interested in Jan's work, and would be more aware. Whereas I think it'd be very possible for someone who was a fan of Louis Killen not to have heard of Louisa Jo.

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Yes, I suspect it's much less tricky - particularly with things like albums that you might buy 35+ years after the recording was made, you could be extremely familiar with a person's entire career and still not have a clue what they did recently, if it didn't involve a release or a tour.

[snow-leopard.livejournal.com]

Wasn't a folk musician changing gender a plot point in a Mighty Wind?

[venta.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, it looks like you're right - though I have no memory of that from seeing the film (once, a long time ago).

I certainly know of at least one other folk singer who's successfully continued the career she started as a man. Her web page just lists her credentials (played with x, performed at y, etc) without mentioning that some of them were under a different name. Which is perfectly reasonable, I would say (though potentially confusing for readers).

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Opens a series of large questions about the purpose(s) of obituaries… and their different audiences.

I think I would stick with the later gender throughout, but having made it clear at the beginning that a different gender actually applied for the earlier part of the tale. I can live with the awkwardness of 'her ex-wives' etc in exchange for that.

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

English Dance and Song headlines the obit (by Derek Schofield) "Louisa Killen Remembered", with a large colour pic of Louisa Jo. Lower down the page is Louis singing in 1962 and two more of him on the following page. Because of the late gender reassignment, which does make it more complicated than usual, most of the obit is about Louis and uses his/him. Then follow reminiscences from other folksingers, in the gender relative to the memories, except for Sandra Kerr who writes about "Lou" throughout, never using a pronoun, and she is writing only about one particular song. To be fair, EDS is addressing those who'd be familiar with the situation anyway.

[lathany.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't - 'cos of all the bear traps. I'd wait and see how other people handled it (which is a cop out, I know, but true).

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

I think I'd go for using female pronouns everywhere, but say near the start something like "Louisa Jo previously went by the name Louis Killen and lived as a man until 2010". That clears up any confusion without needing to address questions of what she considered her own gender to be at earlier points in her life.

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

(A transgender friend of mine one said "all gender is performance". Whilst I don't really feel that way about my own gender, I can certainly see what she means. To some degree it influences the way I see lives like Louisa's.)

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

What bataleur said - female pronouns and chosen name throughout, with an acknowledgement towards the head of the article that they used to be known as something else. Same as with someone who had changed their name. Think of actors - you wouldn't expect to find an obituary for Marilyn Monroe beginning, "Norma Jean Baker was born in X-town. Norma always loved music and the theatre...." - it would start something like "Marilyn Monroe was born Norma Jean Baker in X-town. The young Marilyn always loved..."

[venta.livejournal.com]

The name-change analogy is a good one, thank you. Though pursuing my concerns about this specific case, I suspect that if someone changed their name late in life after their achievements, people would still use their earlier name (eg Cat Stevens, and he wasn't even that late in life and has done stuff since).

I think (again, in this case) you'd also want a prominent headline as it's possible people would think "Louisa Jo Killen? Nah, never heard of her..." and move on.

[valkyriekaren.livejournal.com]

Also, fuck, didn't know she'd died (or indeed that she was now living as a she...)