Posted inArts & Culture

Detroit’s Toni Elling lives on through the Black burlesque performers who became her chosen family

GiGi Holliday’s purple dress flutters around her shins as she approaches the podium at Detroit’s Second Baptist Church. She fights back tears as she sings Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life,” wearing a leopard-print hat and shawl. “Mama Toni Elling, our love language together was music… and we both loved Frank Sinatra,” the burlesque dancer says, her […]

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