Legendary jazz singer Lena Horne, who was one of the first black stars to be embraced by the American mainstream, died on Sunday (May 9) in a New York hospital at the age of 92. No cause of death has been announced.
Horne was born in Brooklyn in 1917 and got her start in show business at 16 when she left school to become a dancer in Harlem's Cotton Club. In 1941, MGM signed her to a seven-year contract, an agreement that was almost unheard of among black entertainers at the time. She appeared in many Hollywood musicals and her signature role came in 1943, when she sang the title song of Stormy Weather.
She later went on to success on Broadway and appeared in the hit Jamaica in 1957. In 1981, she starred in the autobiographical one-woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. This celebrated show earned her two Grammys, a Tony Award and an Emmy nomination.
In 1989, the Grammys awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for her singing and one for her acting.
Horne is also a part of the International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame. She was an activist who frequently protested the unequal treatment of African Americans and she was blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950s for her political views.
Horne's final album, By Myself, was released in 1998. In 2006, she issued Seasons of Life, a compilation of unreleased performances dating from 1994-2000.
She is survived by her daughter, journalist/author Gail Lumet Buckley. Lumet Buckley's daughter (Horne's granddaughter) Jenny Lumet wrote the Academy Award nominated film Rachel Getting Married.
Horne was born in Brooklyn in 1917 and got her start in show business at 16 when she left school to become a dancer in Harlem's Cotton Club. In 1941, MGM signed her to a seven-year contract, an agreement that was almost unheard of among black entertainers at the time. She appeared in many Hollywood musicals and her signature role came in 1943, when she sang the title song of Stormy Weather.
She later went on to success on Broadway and appeared in the hit Jamaica in 1957. In 1981, she starred in the autobiographical one-woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. This celebrated show earned her two Grammys, a Tony Award and an Emmy nomination.
In 1989, the Grammys awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for her singing and one for her acting.
Horne is also a part of the International Civil Rights: Walk of Fame. She was an activist who frequently protested the unequal treatment of African Americans and she was blacklisted during the Red Scare of the 1950s for her political views.
Horne's final album, By Myself, was released in 1998. In 2006, she issued Seasons of Life, a compilation of unreleased performances dating from 1994-2000.
She is survived by her daughter, journalist/author Gail Lumet Buckley. Lumet Buckley's daughter (Horne's granddaughter) Jenny Lumet wrote the Academy Award nominated film Rachel Getting Married.