The recording I am talking about today is the earliest in my
collection by an artist who later transitioned, in this case, from man to
woman. Yes, I have older ones, by Christine Jorgensen, Bambi, and others, but
their singing efforts were all after they became known as transsexual.
Danny O'Connor became Canary Conn, and both have interesting
stories. Danny grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and from a young age wanted to
sing professionally. He got his break early, at age 18, by winning the
nationwide contest "Super Teen: The Sounds of '68." He won best male
vocalist, and a contract with Capitol Records, and in 1969 a 45 with two songs
was released, "If I Am Not Free" and "Can You Imagine."
The 45 did little, but in promoting it he did net appearances
on national teen music shows, including "The Larry Kane Show," on KTRK
in Houston. He also acquired a wife (August 1968) and son along the way. The journey would
get tougher though, right away. Within five years he would attempt suicide, go
through a divorce (September 1970) and be denied contact with his son. And at age 23 he would
transition, and take a new name, Canary Conn. Canary went public at this point,
1974, writing an autobiography "Canary: The Story of a Transsexual."
Back in the spotlight, she appeared on such talk shows as The Merv Griffin
Show, and Tom Synder's show, "Tomorrow," and on "The Phil
Donahue Show," with the additional publicity yielding the paperback
version of her book.
And then the story pretty much stopped. I found on one
blog someone saying they had "heard" Conn died around 1984, but
nothing to back that up. A friend, with a subscription to Ancestry.com, could not find any death verification. Other than places to buy copies of the book, there is actually very little on the internet about Canary Conn. If anyone has recent information (as in, after 1975,
please let me know)
