"His memorable pseudonym, coined during his brief stint with Iggy and the Stooges, was derived partly from Jean, his adoptive mother’s middle name," wrote Steve Smith, in his New York Times obituary for Tyranny.
Later that year, after his birth father, an Army paratrooper, went missing in the Asian theater of World War II, his mother put him up for adoption.
Tyranny began his performance career in high school, playing pieces by major composers (such as John Cage) with Philip Krumm in a concert series in San Antonio.
"After releasing the album Raw Power in 1973, [Pop] invited his former bandmate to join him on tour," Steve Smith noted in his New York Times obituary for Tyranny.
"[8] He performed on albums by Laurie Anderson (Strange Angels), David Behrman (On the Other Ocean), John Cage (Cheap Imitation and Empty Words), Peter Gordon, and Robert Ashley (Perfect Lives, Dust, Celestial Excursions), with whom he frequently collaborated.
"[9] In October 2020, Just for the Record: Conversations With and About "Blue" Gene Tyranny, a documentary film directed by David Bernabo, premiered at the TUSK Festival 2020.