The term “nose job” doesn’t imply something that it’s not. “Sex change operation” implies that you change from one to another while in reality you have always been what you identify as you just align your sexual characteristics with the gender you identify as.
I think unless the sentence represents how Wendy identifies herself it should be updated to the appropriate terms.
How about something even simpler:
It should be noted that this artist originally performed as Walter Carlos prior to 1979. For this reason, several release groups and releases are credited to Walter Carlos.
Edit: Updated in MusicBrainz Edit: 51246478
As I previously stated, unless someone explicitly uses the word transsexual for themselves, it’s not correct. I’d be less offended by being called transsexual than by someone using the wrong name and pronouns, but it would bother me. It would be more comparable to using “Negro” than the other N-word: not the worst, but it’s outdated, and you give away either a lack of knowledge or a personal bias.
@justcheckingitout, for people who live this experience and those who actually listen to them, it’s also well-known that transgender is the correct word to use. That fact that not everyone has caught on to that doesn’t make them any more right than people who continue to use the N-word.
I found another transgender artist, Alexander James Adams, who currently has another entry in the database for his old name Heather Alexander.
Both are currently linked with a performance relationship, and that just looks weired. “Also performs as: Heather Alexander” sounds like he sometimes goes out and performs as Heather, which of course he doesn’t do. I entered a merge edit: https://musicbrainz.org/edit/51253158