Johnson—known to the world as Tanqueray, the magnetic burlesque star of 1960s and ’70s New York—died on October 11 at her Manhattan home following a severe stroke. She was 81, according to Humans of New York and her son, Mitchell Springle.

The making of “Tanqueray”

New York gave Stephanie a new name and a new stage. She stitched her own costumes—rhinestones, beads, and attitude—and built a following in Manhattan’s after-hours circuit. Her work crossed scenes and boundaries: burlesque, drag, fetish communities, and mob-run nightclubs where she learned Italian behind the curtain and read a room like a headliner.

“My stripper name was Tanqueray. Back in the seventies