New York has always been a city that creates legends—and few shone as brightly, or as defiantly, as the woman known to the world as Tanqueray. Born Aquila Stephanie Springle and later known as Stephanie Johnson, she wasn’t just a personality; she was a living time capsule of Manhattan’s underground history. Her death on October 11, 2025, at age 81 closed the curtain on a life that spanned smoky burlesque clubs, mob-run nightlife, and the viral storytelling age of social media.
Tanqueray’s journey began far from glamour. Raised in deep poverty in Albany in the 1940s, her early life was shaped by rigid rules and limited options. As a pregnant teenager, she was forced out of her home and briefly incarcerated—experiences that hardened her resolve rather than broke it. Those years became the fire that forged her survival instinct. When she arrived in Manhattan, she didn’t just move cities—she rewrote herself.
By the 1960s and ’70s, she had become Tanqueray: a self-made burlesque performer commanding New York’s after-hours scene. She stitched her own costumes, learned the rhythms of dangerous rooms, and navigated spaces controlled by powerful men with razor-sharp intelligence. She later described herself as “the only Black girl making white girl money,” a reflection of both the racial barriers she shattered and the cost of doing so. To stay safe, she even learned Italian so she could understand what club owners were saying behind her back.
For decades, Tanqueray was a downtown secret—a name whispered by those who knew New York before it was sanitized. Then, in 2019, everything changed. A chance sidewalk encounter with Humans of New York creator Brandon Stanton turned her into a global phenomenon. Dressed in a vivid red coat trimmed with fur, she spoke—and millions listened. Her story unfolded in a 33-part series that blended humor, pain, grit, and brutal honesty.
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