Legendary Jazz Singer/Actor Lena Horne Dies At 92
Legendary Jazz singer Lena Horne died at the age of 92. Horne was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio and become one of Broadway's grandest dames.
Horne's death was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley. The 92-year-old actress, activist and vocalist, who shot to fame after her soulful renditions in the Hollywood musicals Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, had won several Grammys, Tonys and the NAACP's highest award.
Horne breathed her last at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She had appeared in scores of war-time musicals, including "Thousands Cheer" (1943), "Broadway Rhythm" (1944), "Two Girls and a Sailor" (1944), "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946), and "Words and Music" (1948). Horne's started her asociation with the MGM with "Panama Hattie" in 1942, in which she sang Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things."
The Times added that Horne also directed two all-black movie musicals in 1943. Horne's husband had died in 1971 and she is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley. Horne had started her show business career as a dancer at Harlem's Cotton Club at the ripe of 16. She later started singing in the club with band leaders Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington.
Talking about her MGM debut, Horne had once said in an interview with CNN, "I think the black boy that cleaned the shoes and me were the only two black people except the maids who were there working for the stars. And it was very lonely, and I wasn't very happy."
