With a name like Tempest Storm, sparks were bound to fly. Born Annie Blanche Banks on Leap Day, 1928, in Eastman, Georgia, she escaped a difficult childhood by running away at fourteen, determined to build a new life. After two early marriages, she set her sights on Hollywood, where a casting agent offered her a choice between the stage names Sunny Day or Tempest Storm. She chose the latter—an emblem of her fiery personality and unstoppable drive.

Working first as a cocktail waitress, Tempest was asked if she performed striptease; curiosity led her to try, and she quickly discovered an innate ability to command attention. By the late 1940s, she was performing regularly, and by the mid-1950s, she had become one of burlesque’s greatest stars. Her performances were known for elegance, humor, and precision—focused on suggestion and artistry rather than explicitness. Lloyd’s of London famously insured her curves for $1 million, and she earned a reported $100,000 a year. She shared the screen with Bettie Page in cult classics like Teaserama and Buxom Beautease, and was affectionately dubbed “Tempest in a D-Cup” by the press.

Despite her glamorous image, Tempest led a disciplined life—she avoided smoking and hard liquor, favored daily saunas, and proudly refused plastic surgery. Her personal life drew attention as well; she was romantically linked to Elvis Presley and Mickey Rooney, and in 1959 she married jazz singer Herb Jeffries, with whom she had a daughter, Patricia Ann. Defying both social norms and time itself, Tempest continued performing into her eighties and was honored with “Tempest Storm Day” in San Francisco. When she passed away in Las Vegas in 2021 at age ninety-three, she left behind not only glitter and fame but a lasting legacy of artistry, confidence, and trailblazing independence.