Lena Horne
Encyclopedia
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American
singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.
Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club
at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky
and Stormy Weather
. Due to the Red Scare
and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklist
ed and unable to get work in Hollywood
.
Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington
in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000.
. Reported to be descended from the John C. Calhoun
family, both sides of her family were a mixture of African American
, Native American
—and European American
descent, and each belonged to what W. E. B. Du Bois called "The Talented Tenth
", the upper stratum of middle-class, well-educated African Americans.
Her father, Edwin Fletcher "Teddy" Horne, Jr. (1892-1970), a numbers kingpin in the gambling
trade, left the family when she was three and moved to an upper-middle-class black community in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
. Her mother, Edna Louise Scottron (1895-1985), daughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron
, was an actress with a black theatre troupe and traveled extensively. Scottron's maternal grandmother, Amelie Louise Ashton, was a Senegal
ese slave. Lena Horne was mainly raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne.
When Horne was five, she was sent to live in Georgia
. For several years, she traveled with her mother. From 1927 to 1929 she lived with her uncle, Frank S. Horne, who was dean of students at Fort Valley Junior Industrial Institute in Fort Valley, Georgia
and who would later become an adviser to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
From Fort Valley, southwest of Macon
, Horne briefly moved to Atlanta with her mother; they returned to New York when Horne was 12 years old. She then attended Girls High School
, an all-girls public high school in Brooklyn which has since become Boys and Girls High School
; she dropped out without earning a diploma. Aged 18, she moved in with her father in Pittsburgh, staying in the city's Little Harlem
for almost five years and learning from native Pittsburghers Billy Strayhorn
and Billy Eckstine
, among others.
in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall
who took Lena under her wing. A few years later she joined Noble Sissle
's Orchestra, with which she toured and with whom she recorded her first record release, a 78rpm single issued by Decca Records
. After she separated from her first husband, Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet
in 1940–41, but disliked the travel and left the band to work at the Café Society
in New York. She replaced Dinah Shore
as the featured vocalist on NBC's popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
. The show's resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor. Horne left the show after only six months to headline a nightclub revue on the West Coast, and was replaced by Linda Keene.
Horne already had two low-budget movies to her credit: a 1938 musical feature called The Duke is Tops
(later reissued with Horne's name above the title as The Bronze Venus); and a 1941 two-reel short subject, Boogie Woogie Dream, featuring pianists Pete Johnson
and Albert Ammons
. Horne's songs from Boogie Woogie Dream were later released individually as soundies
. Horne was primarily a nightclub performer during this period, and it was during a 1943 club engagement in Hollywood that talent scouts approached Horne to work in pictures. She chose Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, and became the first black performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. November 1944 she was featured in an episode of the popular radio series, Suspense, as a fictional nightclub singer, with a large speaking role along with her singing. In 1945 and 1946 she sang with Billy Eckstine
's Orchestra.
She made her debut with MGM in Panama Hattie
(1942) and performed the title song of Stormy Weather
based loosely on the life of Adelaide Hall
, (1943), which she made at 20th Century Fox
, on loan from MGM. She appeared in a number of MGM musical
s, most notably Cabin in the Sky
(also 1943), but was never featured in a leading role because of her race and the fact that films featuring her had to be re-edited for showing in states where theaters could not show films with black performers. As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline; a notable exception was the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky, although one number was cut because it was considered too suggestive by the censors. "Ain't it the Truth" was the song (and scene) cut before the release of the film Cabin in the Sky. It featured Horne singing "Ain't it the Truth", while taking a bubble bath (considered too "risqué" by the film's executives). This scene and song are featured in the film That's Entertainment! III (1994) which also featured commentary from Horne on why the scene was deleted prior to the film's release.
In Ziegfeld Follies
(1946) she performed "Love" by Hugh Martin
and Ralph Blane
. Horne wanted to be considered for the role of Julie LaVerne in MGM's 1951 version of Show Boat
(having already played the role when a segment of Show Boat was performed in Till the Clouds Roll By
) but lost the part to Ava Gardner
, a personal friend in real life, due to the Production Code
's ban on interracial relationships in films. In the documentary That's Entertainment! III Horne stated that MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using Horne's recordings, which offended both actresses. Ultimately, Gardner's voice was overdubbed
by actress Annette Warren (Smith) for the theatrical release, though her voice was heard on the soundtrack album.
(which was also Eleanor Powell
's film swan song), and the 1956 musical Meet Me in Las Vegas
. She was blacklist
ed during the 1950s for her political views. She returned to the screen three more times, playing chanteuse Claire Quintana in the 1969 film Death of a Gunfighter
, Glinda in The Wiz (film)
(1978), and co-hosting the 1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III, in which she was candid about her treatment by the studio.
After leaving Hollywood, Horne established herself as one of the premiere nightclub
performers of the post-war era. She headlined at clubs and hotels throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including the Sands Hotel
in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove
in Los Angeles, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In 1957, a live album entitled, Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, became the biggest selling record by a female artist in the history of the RCA-Victor label. In 1958, Horne was nominated for a Tony Award
for "Best Actress in a Musical" (for her part in the "Calypso
" musical Jamaica
) which, at Lena's request featured her longtime friend Adelaide Hall
.
From the late 1950s through the 1960s, Horne was a staple of TV variety shows, appearing multiple times on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall
, The Ed Sullivan Show
, The Dean Martin Show
, and The Bell Telephone Hour
. Other programs she appeared on included The Judy Garland Show
, The Hollywood Palace
, and The Andy Williams Show
. Besides two television specials for the BBC
(later syndicated in the U.S.), Horne starred in her own U.S. television special in 1969, Monsanto Night Presents Lena Horne. During this decade, the artist Pete Hawley painted her portrait for RCA Victor, capturing the mood of her performance style.
In 1970, she co-starred with Harry Belafonte
in the hour-long Harry & Lena for ABC; in 1973, she co-starred with Tony Bennett
in Tony and Lena. Horne and Bennett subsequently toured the U.S. and U.K. in a show together. In the 1976 program America Salutes Richard Rodgers, she sang a lengthy medley of Rodgers songs with Peggy Lee
and Vic Damone
. Horne also made several appearances on The Flip Wilson Show
.
Additionally, Horne played herself on television programs such as The Muppet Show
, Sesame Street
, and Sanford and Son
in the 1970s, as well as a 1985 performance on The Cosby Show
and a 1993-appearance on A Different World. In the summer of 1980, Horne, 63 years old and intent on retiring from show business, embarked on a two month series of benefit concerts sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta
. These concerts were represented as Horne's farewell tour, yet her retirement lasted less than a year.
On April 13, 1980, Horne, Luciano Pavarotti
, and host Gene Kelly
were all scheduled to appear at a Gala performance at the Metropolitan Opera House to salute the N Y City Center's Joffrey Ballet Company. However, Pavarotti's plane was diverted over the Atlantic and he was unable to appear. James Nederlander was an invited Honored Guest and noted that only three people at the sold out Metropolitan Opera House asked for their money back. He asked to be introduced to Lena following her performance. In May 1981, The Nederlander Organization
, Michael Frazier, and Fred Walker went on to book Horne for a four-week engagement at the newly named Nederlander Theatre
(formerly the Trafalgar, the Billy Rose, and the National) on West 41st Street in New York City. The show was an instant success and was extended to a full year run, garnering Horne a special Tony award, and two Grammy Awards for the cast recording of her show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
. The 333-performance Broadway run closed on Horne's 65th birthday, June 30, 1982. Later that same week, the entire show was performed again and videotaped for television broadcast and home video release. The tour began a few days later at Tanglewood (Massachusetts) during the July 4, 1982 weekend. The Lady and Her Music toured 41 cities in the U.S. and Canada through June 17, 1984. It played in London for a month in August and ended its run in Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1984.
In 1981, she received a Special Tony Award for her one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
, which also played to acclaim at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1984. Despite the show's considerable success (Horne still holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history), she did not capitalize on the renewed interest in her career by undertaking many new musical projects. A proposed 1983 joint recording project between Horne and Frank Sinatra
(to be produced by Quincy Jones
) was ultimately abandoned, and her sole studio recording of the decade was 1988's The Men in My Life
, featuring duets with Sammy Davis, Jr.
and Joe Williams
. In 1989, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
.
The 1990s found Horne considerably more active in the recording studio - all the more remarkable considering she was approaching her 80th year. Following her 1993 performance at a tribute to the musical legacy of her good friend Billy Strayhorn
(Duke Ellington
's longtime collaborator), she decided to record an album composed largely of Strayhorn's and Ellington's songs the following year, We'll Be Together Again
. To coincide with the release of the album, Horne made what would be her final concert performances at New York's Supper Club and Carnegie Hall
. That same year, Horne also lent her vocals to a recording of "Embraceable You
" on Sinatra's Duets II
album. Though the album was largely derided by critics, the Sinatra-Horne pairing was generally regarded as its highlight.
In 1995, a 'live' album capturing her Supper Club performance was released (subsequently winning a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album). In 1998, Horne released another studio album, entitled Being Myself
. Thereafter, Horne essentially retired from performing and largely retreated from public view, though she did return to the recording studio in 2000 to contribute vocal tracks on Simon Rattle
's Classic Ellington album.
. In 1941, she sang at Cafe Society
and worked with Paul Robeson
. During World War II
, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated
audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen", according to her Kennedy Center biography. Because the U.S. Army refused to allow integrated audiences, she wound up putting on a show for a mixed audience of black U.S. soldiers and white German POWs. Seeing the black soldiers had been forced to sit in the back seats, she walked off the stage to the first row where the black troops were seated and performed with the Germans behind her. She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers
in Jackson, Mississippi
, the weekend before Evers was assassinated. She also met President John F. Kennedy
at the White House
two days before he was assassinated. She was at the March on Washington and spoke and performed on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC
, and the National Council of Negro Women
. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt
to pass anti-lynching
laws. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Tom Lehrer
mentions her in his song "National Brotherhood Week" in the line "Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek" referring (wryly) to her and to Sheriff Jim Clark
, of Selma, Alabama
, who was responsible for a violent attack on civil rights marchers in 1965.
Horne's second marriage was to Lennie Hayton
, one of the premier musical conductors and arrangers at MGM, in December 1947 in Paris
. They separated in the early 1960s, but never divorced; he died in 1971.
In her as-told-to autobiography Lena by Richard Schickel
, Horne recounts the enormous pressures she and her husband faced as an interracial couple. She later admitted in an Ebony, May 1980
interview she had married Hayton to advance her career and cross the "color-line" in show business, but had learned to love him in a way.
Screenwriter Jenny Lumet
, known for her award-winning screenplay Rachel Getting Married
, is Horne's granddaughter, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet
and Horne's daughter Gail. Horne's other grandchildren include Gail's other daughter, Amy Lumet, and her son's three children, Thomas, William, and Lena.
, Dionne Warwick
, Jessye Norman
, Chita Rivera
, Cicely Tyson
, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams
, Lauren Bacall
, Audra McDonald
and Vanessa L. Williams
.
announced that Janet Jackson
would star as Horne in a television biopic. In the weeks following Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction
" debacle during the 2004 Super Bowl
, however, Variety
reported that Horne demanded Jackson be dropped from the project. "ABC executives resisted Horne's demand", according to the Associated Press
report, "but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part." Oprah Winfrey
stated to Alicia Keys
during a 2005 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show
that she might possibly consider producing the biopic herself, casting Keys as Horne.
In January 2005, Blue Note Records
, her label for more than a decade, announced that "the finishing touches have been put on a collection of rare and unreleased recordings by the legendary Horne made during her time on Blue Note." Remixed by her longtime producer Rodney Jones, the recordings featured Horne in remarkably secure voice for a woman of her years, and include versions of such signature songs as "Something to Live For", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Stormy Weather". The album, originally titled Soul but renamed Seasons of a Life, was released on January 24, 2006.
In 2007, Horne was portrayed by Leslie Uggams
as the older Lena and Nikki Crawford as the younger Lena in the stage musical Stormy Weather staged at the Pasadena Playhouse
in California (January through March 2009).
The 83rd Academy Awards
presented a tribute to Horne by actress Halle Berry
at the ceremony held February 27, 2011.
Issued in 1936 on 78rpm 10" vinyl by Decca Records
on Decca 778B.
Credits Noble Sissle and His Orchestra, Lena Horne was credited as Helena Horne for this recording. Recorded on the 3rd of November 1936 in New York.
People of the United States
The people of the United States, also known as simply Americans or American people, are the inhabitants or citizens of the United States. The United States is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds...
singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.
Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club
Cotton Club
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith,...
at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
and Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather (1943 film)
Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film is one of two major Hollywood musicals produced in 1943 with primarily African-American casts, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and is considered a time capsule showcasing some of the top...
. Due to the Red Scare
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
and her left-leaning political views, Horne found herself blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed and unable to get work in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
.
Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was the largest political rally for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr...
in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs and on television, while releasing well-received record albums. She announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,...
, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway and earned her numerous awards and accolades. She continued recording and performing sporadically into the 1990s, disappearing from the public eye in 2000.
Early life
Horne was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of BrooklynBrooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. Reported to be descended from the John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was a leading politician and political theorist from South Carolina during the first half of the 19th century. Calhoun eloquently spoke out on every issue of his day, but often changed positions. Calhoun began his political career as a nationalist, modernizer, and proponent...
family, both sides of her family were a mixture of African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
—and European American
European American
A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
descent, and each belonged to what W. E. B. Du Bois called "The Talented Tenth
The Talented Tenth
The Talented Tenth is a term that designated a leadership class of African-Americans in the early twentieth century. The term was publicized by W. E. B. Du Bois in an influential essay of the same name, which he published in September 1903...
", the upper stratum of middle-class, well-educated African Americans.
Her father, Edwin Fletcher "Teddy" Horne, Jr. (1892-1970), a numbers kingpin in the gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
trade, left the family when she was three and moved to an upper-middle-class black community in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
. Her mother, Edna Louise Scottron (1895-1985), daughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron
Samuel R. Scottron
Samuel Raymond Scottron was a prominent African-American inventor from Brooklyn, N.Y. who began his career as a barber. He was born in Philadelphia in 1841. He received his engineering degree from Cooper Union in 1878....
, was an actress with a black theatre troupe and traveled extensively. Scottron's maternal grandmother, Amelie Louise Ashton, was a Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...
ese slave. Lena Horne was mainly raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne.
When Horne was five, she was sent to live in Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
. For several years, she traveled with her mother. From 1927 to 1929 she lived with her uncle, Frank S. Horne, who was dean of students at Fort Valley Junior Industrial Institute in Fort Valley, Georgia
Fort Valley, Georgia
Fort Valley is a city in and the county seat of Peach County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 9,815.Fort Valley is the corporate headquarters of the Blue Bird Corporation, a large manufacturer of buses...
and who would later become an adviser to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
From Fort Valley, southwest of Macon
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, Horne briefly moved to Atlanta with her mother; they returned to New York when Horne was 12 years old. She then attended Girls High School
Girls High School
Girls' High School is an historically and architecturally notable public secondary school building located at 475 Nostrand Avenue in the Bedford–Stuyvesant, neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. It was built in 1886 and is the oldest public high school building in New York City that is still...
, an all-girls public high school in Brooklyn which has since become Boys and Girls High School
Boys and Girls High School
Boys and Girls High School, the oldest public high school in Brooklyn, is a comprehensive high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York...
; she dropped out without earning a diploma. Aged 18, she moved in with her father in Pittsburgh, staying in the city's Little Harlem
Hill District (Pittsburgh)
The Hill District is a collection of neighborhoods that is considered by many to be the cultural center of African-American life in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an American city. Harlem Renaissance poet Claude McKay once called the district "the crossroads of the world," referring to the...
for almost five years and learning from native Pittsburghers Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...
and Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
, among others.
Road to Hollywood
In the fall of 1933, Horne joined the chorus line of the Cotton ClubCotton Club
The Cotton Club was a famous night club in Harlem, New York City that operated during Prohibition that included jazz music. While the club featured many of the greatest African American entertainers of the era, such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Adelaide Hall, Count Basie, Bessie Smith,...
in New York City. In the spring of 1934, she had a featured role in the Cotton Club Parade starring Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall was an American-born U.K.-based jazz singer and entertainer.Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York and was taught to sing by her father...
who took Lena under her wing. A few years later she joined Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle
Noble Sissle was an American jazz composer, lyricist, bandleader, singer and playwright.-Early life:...
's Orchestra, with which she toured and with whom she recorded her first record release, a 78rpm single issued by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
. After she separated from her first husband, Horne toured with bandleader Charlie Barnet
Charlie Barnet
Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...
in 1940–41, but disliked the travel and left the band to work at the Café Society
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
in New York. She replaced Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...
as the featured vocalist on NBC's popular jazz series The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street was a musical variety radio program which began on the Blue Network in 1940. The magazine Radio Life described it as "one of radio's strangest offsprings... a wacky, strictly hep tongue-in-cheek burlesque of opera and symphony."It was a weekly...
. The show's resident maestros, Henry Levine and Paul Laval, recorded with Horne in June 1941 for RCA Victor. Horne left the show after only six months to headline a nightclub revue on the West Coast, and was replaced by Linda Keene.
The Duke is Tops
The Duke Is Tops is a 1938 American musical film released by Million Dollar Productions and directed by William Nolte. The film was later released in 1943 under the title The Bronze Venus, with Lena Horne given top billing....
(later reissued with Horne's name above the title as The Bronze Venus); and a 1941 two-reel short subject, Boogie Woogie Dream, featuring pianists Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most...
and Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:...
. Horne's songs from Boogie Woogie Dream were later released individually as soundies
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
. Horne was primarily a nightclub performer during this period, and it was during a 1943 club engagement in Hollywood that talent scouts approached Horne to work in pictures. She chose Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, and became the first black performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. November 1944 she was featured in an episode of the popular radio series, Suspense, as a fictional nightclub singer, with a large speaking role along with her singing. In 1945 and 1946 she sang with Billy Eckstine
Billy Eckstine
William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...
's Orchestra.
She made her debut with MGM in Panama Hattie
Panama Hattie
Panama Hattie is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. It is also the title of a 1942 MGM musical based upon the play...
(1942) and performed the title song of Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather (1943 film)
Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film is one of two major Hollywood musicals produced in 1943 with primarily African-American casts, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and is considered a time capsule showcasing some of the top...
based loosely on the life of Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall was an American-born U.K.-based jazz singer and entertainer.Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York and was taught to sing by her father...
, (1943), which she made at 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
, on loan from MGM. She appeared in a number of MGM musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
s, most notably Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky
Cabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
(also 1943), but was never featured in a leading role because of her race and the fact that films featuring her had to be re-edited for showing in states where theaters could not show films with black performers. As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline; a notable exception was the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky, although one number was cut because it was considered too suggestive by the censors. "Ain't it the Truth" was the song (and scene) cut before the release of the film Cabin in the Sky. It featured Horne singing "Ain't it the Truth", while taking a bubble bath (considered too "risqué" by the film's executives). This scene and song are featured in the film That's Entertainment! III (1994) which also featured commentary from Horne on why the scene was deleted prior to the film's release.
Ziegfeld Follies (film)
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 Hollywood musical comedy film directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Merrill Pye, George Sidney and Charles Waters...
(1946) she performed "Love" by Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin
Hugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
and Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane
Ralph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
. Horne wanted to be considered for the role of Julie LaVerne in MGM's 1951 version of Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
(having already played the role when a segment of Show Boat was performed in Till the Clouds Roll By
Till the Clouds Roll By
Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...
) but lost the part to Ava Gardner
Ava Gardner
Ava Lavinia Gardner was an American actress.She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers . She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day...
, a personal friend in real life, due to the Production Code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
's ban on interracial relationships in films. In the documentary That's Entertainment! III Horne stated that MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using Horne's recordings, which offended both actresses. Ultimately, Gardner's voice was overdubbed
Dubbing (music)
In sound recording, dubbing is the transfer or copying of previously recorded audio material from one medium to another of the same or a different type. It may be done with a machine designed for this purpose, or by connecting two different machines: one to play back and one to record the signal...
by actress Annette Warren (Smith) for the theatrical release, though her voice was heard on the soundtrack album.
Changes of direction
By the mid-1950s, Horne .was disenchanted with Hollywood and increasingly focused on her nightclub career. She only made two major appearances in MGM films during the decade, 1950's Duchess of IdahoDuchess of Idaho
Duchess of Idaho is a musical romantic comedy produced in 1950 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, it was the fourth film pairing Esther Williams and Van Johnson...
(which was also Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Powell
Eleanor Torrey Powell was an American film actress and dancer of the 1930s and 1940s, known for her exuberant solo tap dancing.-Early life:...
's film swan song), and the 1956 musical Meet Me in Las Vegas
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Meet Me in Las Vegas is an MGM musical comedy produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Roy Rowland filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope. The film has a running time of 112 minutes.-Cast and crew:...
. She was blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ed during the 1950s for her political views. She returned to the screen three more times, playing chanteuse Claire Quintana in the 1969 film Death of a Gunfighter
Death of a Gunfighter
Death of a Gunfighter is a 1969 Western film. It is most notable for the first use of the pseudonymous Allen Smithee directorial credit. It stars Richard Widmark and Lena Horne, and features an original score by Oliver Nelson...
, Glinda in The Wiz (film)
The Wiz (film)
The Wiz is a 1978 musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical...
(1978), and co-hosting the 1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III, in which she was candid about her treatment by the studio.
After leaving Hollywood, Horne established herself as one of the premiere nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
performers of the post-war era. She headlined at clubs and hotels throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe, including the Sands Hotel
Sands Hotel
The Sands Hotel was a historic Las Vegas Strip hotel/casino that operated from December 15, 1952 to June 30, 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, the Sands was the seventh resort that opened on the Strip....
in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove
Cocoanut Grove
Cocoanut Grove may refer to:Places:*Coconut Grove, a neighborhood in the City of Miami*Coconut Grove , serving the above location*Coconut Grove, Northern Territory, suburb of Darwin, Northern Territory...
in Los Angeles, and the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. In 1957, a live album entitled, Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria, became the biggest selling record by a female artist in the history of the RCA-Victor label. In 1958, Horne was nominated for a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for "Best Actress in a Musical" (for her part in the "Calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
" musical Jamaica
Jamaica (musical)
Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...
) which, at Lena's request featured her longtime friend Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall
Adelaide Hall was an American-born U.K.-based jazz singer and entertainer.Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York and was taught to sing by her father...
.
From the late 1950s through the 1960s, Horne was a staple of TV variety shows, appearing multiple times on Perry Como's Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall
The Kraft Music Hall was a popular variety program, featuring top show business entertainers, which aired on NBC radio and television from 1933 to 1971....
, The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
, and The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour
The Bell Telephone Hour is a long-run concert series which began April 29, 1940 on NBC Radio and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone, it showcased the best in classical and Broadway music, reaching eight to nine million listeners each week. It continued on television...
. Other programs she appeared on included The Judy Garland Show
The Judy Garland Show
The Judy Garland Show is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963-1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with several television specials featuring the star...
, The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace
The Hollywood Palace is an hour-long American television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...
, and The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show
The Andy Williams Show is a television variety show which ran from 1959 to 1971 , and a short-lived run in syndication, beginning in the fall of 1976...
. Besides two television specials for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(later syndicated in the U.S.), Horne starred in her own U.S. television special in 1969, Monsanto Night Presents Lena Horne. During this decade, the artist Pete Hawley painted her portrait for RCA Victor, capturing the mood of her performance style.
In 1970, she co-starred with Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
in the hour-long Harry & Lena for ABC; in 1973, she co-starred with Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....
in Tony and Lena. Horne and Bennett subsequently toured the U.S. and U.K. in a show together. In the 1976 program America Salutes Richard Rodgers, she sang a lengthy medley of Rodgers songs with Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...
and Vic Damone
Vic Damone
Vic Damone is an American singer and entertainer.- Early life :Damone was born Vito Rocco Farinola in Brooklyn, New York to French-Italian immigrants based in Bari, Italy—Rocco and Mamie Farinola. His father was an electrician; and his mother taught piano. His cousin was the actress and singer...
. Horne also made several appearances on The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show
The Flip Wilson Show is a variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a...
.
Additionally, Horne played herself on television programs such as The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
, Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, and Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
in the 1970s, as well as a 1985 performance on The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show
The Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
and a 1993-appearance on A Different World. In the summer of 1980, Horne, 63 years old and intent on retiring from show business, embarked on a two month series of benefit concerts sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
. These concerts were represented as Horne's farewell tour, yet her retirement lasted less than a year.
On April 13, 1980, Horne, Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti
right|thumb|Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in [[Strelna]], 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of [[St...
, and host Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
were all scheduled to appear at a Gala performance at the Metropolitan Opera House to salute the N Y City Center's Joffrey Ballet Company. However, Pavarotti's plane was diverted over the Atlantic and he was unable to appear. James Nederlander was an invited Honored Guest and noted that only three people at the sold out Metropolitan Opera House asked for their money back. He asked to be introduced to Lena following her performance. In May 1981, The Nederlander Organization
Nederlander Organization
The Nederlander Organization, founded in 1912 by David T. Nederlander and based in Detroit, Michigan, is one of the largest operators of legitimate theatres and music venuesin the United States. Its first acquisition was a lease on the Detroit Opera House in 1912. The building was demolished in...
, Michael Frazier, and Fred Walker went on to book Horne for a four-week engagement at the newly named Nederlander Theatre
Nederlander Theatre
David T. Nederlander Theatre is a 1,232-seat Broadway theatre located at 208 West 41st Street, in New York City . One of the Nederlander Organization's nine Broadway theatres, the legacy of the theatre began with David Tobias Nederlander, for whom the theatre is named.Built by Walter C...
(formerly the Trafalgar, the Billy Rose, and the National) on West 41st Street in New York City. The show was an instant success and was extended to a full year run, garnering Horne a special Tony award, and two Grammy Awards for the cast recording of her show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,...
. The 333-performance Broadway run closed on Horne's 65th birthday, June 30, 1982. Later that same week, the entire show was performed again and videotaped for television broadcast and home video release. The tour began a few days later at Tanglewood (Massachusetts) during the July 4, 1982 weekend. The Lady and Her Music toured 41 cities in the U.S. and Canada through June 17, 1984. It played in London for a month in August and ended its run in Stockholm, Sweden, September 14, 1984.
In 1981, she received a Special Tony Award for her one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music
Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,...
, which also played to acclaim at the Adelphi Theatre in London in 1984. Despite the show's considerable success (Horne still holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history), she did not capitalize on the renewed interest in her career by undertaking many new musical projects. A proposed 1983 joint recording project between Horne and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
(to be produced by Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
) was ultimately abandoned, and her sole studio recording of the decade was 1988's The Men in My Life
The Men in My Life
The Men in My Life is a 1988 studio album by Lena Horne, featuring Horne in duet with Joe Williams and Sammy Davis, Jr.. At the 31st Grammy Awards, Horne was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female, for her performance on this album.- Track listing :# "I Wish I'd Met...
, featuring duets with Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
and Joe Williams
Joe Williams (jazz singer)
Joe Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.-Early life:...
. In 1989, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
.
The 1990s found Horne considerably more active in the recording studio - all the more remarkable considering she was approaching her 80th year. Following her 1993 performance at a tribute to the musical legacy of her good friend Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn
William Thomas "Billy" Strayhorn was an American composer, pianist and arranger, best known for his successful collaboration with bandleader and composer Duke Ellington lasting nearly three decades. His compositions include "Chelsea Bridge", "Take the "A" Train" and "Lush Life".-Early...
(Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's longtime collaborator), she decided to record an album composed largely of Strayhorn's and Ellington's songs the following year, We'll Be Together Again
We'll Be Together Again (album)
We'll Be Together Again is a 1994 album by Lena Horne. -Track listing:# "Something to Live For" # "Day Follows Day" # "Prelude to a Kiss"...
. To coincide with the release of the album, Horne made what would be her final concert performances at New York's Supper Club and Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
. That same year, Horne also lent her vocals to a recording of "Embraceable You
Embraceable You
"Embraceable You" is a popular song, with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The song was originally written in 1928 for an unpublished operetta named East is West. It was eventually published in 1930 and included in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy. where it was performed by...
" on Sinatra's Duets II
Duets II
Duets II is the 58th and last studio album by American singer Frank Sinatra. It was released in 1994, and was the sequel to the previous year's Duets....
album. Though the album was largely derided by critics, the Sinatra-Horne pairing was generally regarded as its highlight.
In 1995, a 'live' album capturing her Supper Club performance was released (subsequently winning a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album). In 1998, Horne released another studio album, entitled Being Myself
Being Myself
Being Myself is the debut album by a 19 year old rapper Juvenile, released on February 7, 1995 by Warlock Records.- Track listing :# "Intro" – 0:57# "Betcha' 20 Dollars [Bounce II]" – 5:41# "What Cha Gotta Do" – 0:42# "G-Ing Men" Being Myself is the debut album by a 19 year old rapper Juvenile,...
. Thereafter, Horne essentially retired from performing and largely retreated from public view, though she did return to the recording studio in 2000 to contribute vocal tracks on Simon Rattle
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002 has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic ....
's Classic Ellington album.
Civil rights activism
Horne was long involved with the Civil Rights movementCivil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. In 1941, she sang at Cafe Society
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
and worked with Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when entertaining the troops for the USO, she refused to perform "for segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
audiences or for groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen", according to her Kennedy Center biography. Because the U.S. Army refused to allow integrated audiences, she wound up putting on a show for a mixed audience of black U.S. soldiers and white German POWs. Seeing the black soldiers had been forced to sit in the back seats, she walked off the stage to the first row where the black troops were seated and performed with the Germans behind her. She was at an NAACP rally with Medgar Evers
Medgar Evers
Medgar Wiley Evers was an African American civil rights activist from Mississippi involved in efforts to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi...
in Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, the weekend before Evers was assassinated. She also met President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
two days before he was assassinated. She was at the March on Washington and spoke and performed on behalf of the NAACP, SNCC
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ' was one of the principal organizations of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. It emerged from a series of student meetings led by Ella Baker held at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina in April 1960...
, and the National Council of Negro Women
National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women is a non-profit organization with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African American women, their families and communities. NCNW fulfills this mission through research, advocacy, national and community based services and...
. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
to pass anti-lynching
Lynching in the United States
Lynching, the practice of killing people by extrajudicial mob action, occurred in the United States chiefly from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Lynchings took place most frequently in the South from 1890 to the 1920s, with a peak in the annual toll in 1892.It is associated with...
laws. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
mentions her in his song "National Brotherhood Week" in the line "Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark are dancing cheek to cheek" referring (wryly) to her and to Sheriff Jim Clark
Jim Clark (sheriff)
James Gardner Clark, Jr. of Selma, Alabama, was the sheriff of Dallas County, Alabama from 1955 to 1966. He was one of the officials responsible for the violent arrests of civil rights protestors duringthe Selma to Montgomery marches.-Early life:Clark served with the U.S...
, of Selma, Alabama
Selma, Alabama
Selma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
, who was responsible for a violent attack on civil rights marchers in 1965.
Personal life
Horne married Louis Jordan Jones in January 1937 in Pittsburgh. On December 21, 1937, their daughter, Gail (later known as Gail Lumet Buckley, a best-selling author) was born there. and a son, Edwin Jones (born February 7, 1940 – September 12, 1970) who died of kidney disease. Horne and Jones separated in 1940 and divorced in 1944.Horne's second marriage was to Lennie Hayton
Lennie Hayton
Leonard George "Lennie" Hayton was an American Jewish composer, conductor and arranger. His trademark was the wearing of a captain’s hat, which he always wore at a rakish angle....
, one of the premier musical conductors and arrangers at MGM, in December 1947 in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. They separated in the early 1960s, but never divorced; he died in 1971.
In her as-told-to autobiography Lena by Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
, Horne recounts the enormous pressures she and her husband faced as an interracial couple. She later admitted in an Ebony, May 1980
Ebony (magazine)
Ebony, a monthly magazine for the African-American market, was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945...
interview she had married Hayton to advance her career and cross the "color-line" in show business, but had learned to love him in a way.
Screenwriter Jenny Lumet
Jenny Lumet
Jenny Lumet is an American actress and screenwriter noted for her award-winning screenplay for Rachel Getting Married...
, known for her award-winning screenplay Rachel Getting Married
Rachel Getting Married
Rachel Getting Married is a 2008 drama film directed by Jonathan Demme, and starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin and Debra Winger. The film was released in the U.S. to select theaters on October 3, 2008. The film opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival. The film also...
, is Horne's granddaughter, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
and Horne's daughter Gail. Horne's other grandchildren include Gail's other daughter, Amy Lumet, and her son's three children, Thomas, William, and Lena.
Death
Horne died on Mothers Day, May 9, 2010, in New York City of heart failure. Horne's funeral took place at St. Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue in New York City. Thousands gathered to mourn her, including Leontyne PriceLeontyne Price
Mary Violet Leontyne Price is an American soprano. Born and raised in the Deep South, she rose to international acclaim in the 1950s and 1960s, and was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera.One critic characterized Price's voice as "vibrant",...
, Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....
, Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman
Jessye Norman is an American opera singer. Norman is a well-known contemporary opera singer and recitalist, and is one of the highest paid performers in classical music...
, Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera
Chita Rivera is an American actress, dancer, and singer best known for her roles in musical theater. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award...
, Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson
Cicely Tyson is an American actress. A successful stage actress, Tyson is also known for her Oscar-nominated role in the film Sounder and the television movies The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman and Roots....
, Diahann Carroll, Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
, Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...
, Audra McDonald
Audra McDonald
Audra Ann McDonald is an American actress and singer. She currently stars in the ABC television drama Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime and A Raisin in the Sun...
and Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
.
Legacy
In 2003, ABCAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
announced that Janet Jackson
Janet Jackson
Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...
would star as Horne in a television biopic. In the weeks following Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction
Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy
Super Bowl XXXVIII, which was broadcast live on February 1, 2004 from Houston, Texas on the CBS television network in the United States, was noted for a controversial halftime show in which Janet Jackson's breast, adorned with a nipple shield, was exposed by Justin Timberlake for about half a...
" debacle during the 2004 Super Bowl
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
, however, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported that Horne demanded Jackson be dropped from the project. "ABC executives resisted Horne's demand", according to the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
report, "but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part." Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
stated to Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
during a 2005 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
that she might possibly consider producing the biopic herself, casting Keys as Horne.
In January 2005, Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
, her label for more than a decade, announced that "the finishing touches have been put on a collection of rare and unreleased recordings by the legendary Horne made during her time on Blue Note." Remixed by her longtime producer Rodney Jones, the recordings featured Horne in remarkably secure voice for a woman of her years, and include versions of such signature songs as "Something to Live For", "Chelsea Bridge", and "Stormy Weather". The album, originally titled Soul but renamed Seasons of a Life, was released on January 24, 2006.
In 2007, Horne was portrayed by Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams
Leslie Uggams is an American actress and singer, perhaps best known for her work in Hallelujah, Baby! She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.-Singing:...
as the older Lena and Nikki Crawford as the younger Lena in the stage musical Stormy Weather staged at the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
in California (January through March 2009).
The 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
presented a tribute to Horne by actress Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
at the ceremony held February 27, 2011.
Grammy Awards
| Year | Category | Title | Genre | Label | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Best Jazz Vocal Performance | An Evening with Lena Horne An Evening with Lena Horne An Evening with Lena Horne is a 1994 live album by Lena Horne. At the 38th Grammy Awards, Horne's performance on this album won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.-Track listing:# "I Come Runnin'" – 3:08... |
Jazz | Blue Note | Winner |
| 1989 | Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."... |
Winner | |||
| 1988 | Best Jazz Vocal Performance – Female | The Men in My Life The Men in My Life The Men in My Life is a 1988 studio album by Lena Horne, featuring Horne in duet with Joe Williams and Sammy Davis, Jr.. At the 31st Grammy Awards, Horne was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female, for her performance on this album.- Track listing :# "I Wish I'd Met... |
Jazz | Three Cherries | Nominee |
| 1988 | Best Jazz Vocal Performance – Duo or Group | "I Won't Leave You Again" | Jazz | Three Cherries | Nominee |
| 1981 | Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,... |
Pop | Qwest | Winner |
| 1981 | Best Cast Show Album | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,... |
Pop | Qwest | Winner |
| 1962 | Best Female Vocal Performance | Porgy and Bess | Pop | RCA | Nominee |
| 1961 | Female Solo Vocal Performance | Lena at the Sands | Pop | RCA | Nominee |
Other awards
| Year | Organization | Category | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site |
International Civil Rights Walk of Fame |
Inducted | |
| 1999 | NAACP Image Award | Outstanding Jazz Artist NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Jazz Artist The NAACP Image Award winners for Outstanding Jazz Artist:... |
Winner | |
| 1994 | Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award | Songwriters Hall of Fame | Winner | |
| ? | Hollywood Chamber of Commerce | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star at 6282 Hollywood Blvd | Honor (motion pictures) |
| ? | Hollywood Chamber of Commerce | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star at 6250 Hollywood Blvd | Honor (recordings) |
| 1987 | American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers |
The ASCAP Pied Piper Award | Winner | Given to entertainers who have made significant contributions to words and music |
| 1985 | Emmy Award | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,... |
Nominee | |
| 1984 | John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts |
Kennedy Center Honors | Winner | For extraordinary talent, creativity, and perseverance |
| 1980 | Howard University Howard University Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States... |
Honorary doctorate | Honored | |
| 1980 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress – Musical | Winner | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music |
| 1980 | New York Drama Critics Circle Awards | Special Citation | Winner | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music |
| 1981 | Tony Awards | Special Citation | Winner | Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music |
| 1957 | Tony Awards | Best Actress | Nominee | "Jamaica" |
Film
- The Duke Is TopsThe Duke is TopsThe Duke Is Tops is a 1938 American musical film released by Million Dollar Productions and directed by William Nolte. The film was later released in 1943 under the title The Bronze Venus, with Lena Horne given top billing....
(1938) - Panama HattiePanama HattiePanama Hattie is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Herbert Fields and B. G. DeSylva. It is also the title of a 1942 MGM musical based upon the play...
(1942) - Cabin in the SkyCabin in the SkyCabin in the Sky is a 1943 American musical film with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
(1943) - Stormy WeatherStormy Weather (1943 film)Stormy Weather is a 1943 American musical film produced and released by 20th Century Fox. The film is one of two major Hollywood musicals produced in 1943 with primarily African-American casts, the other being MGM's Cabin in the Sky, and is considered a time capsule showcasing some of the top...
(1943) - Thousands CheerThousands CheerThousands Cheer is a 1943 American comedy musical film released by MGM. Produced at the height of the Second World War, the film was intended as a morale booster for American troops and their families.-Plot:The film is essentially a two-part program...
(1943) - I Dood ItI Dood ItI Dood It is a 1943 MGM musical-comedy film starring Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell, and directed by Vincente Minnelli. The screenplay is by Fred Saidy and Sig Herzig and the film features Richard Ainley, Patricia Dane, Lena Horne and Hazel Scott...
(1943) - Swing Fever (1943)
- Boogie-Woogie DreamBoogie-Woogie DreamBoogie-Woogie Dream is an independently-made short film musical directed by Hanus Burger, starring Lena Horne, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Teddy Wilson and his orchestra...
(1944) - Broadway RhythmBroadway RhythmBroadway Rhythm is an MGM Technicolor musical film. It was produced by Jack Cummings and directed by Roy Del Ruth. The film was originally announced as Broadway Melody of 1944 to follow MGM's Broadway Melody films of 1929, 1936, 1938, and 1940. The movie was originally slated to star Eleanor...
(1944) - Two Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a SailorTwo Girls and a Sailor is a 1944 musical film about two singing sisters who are helped to set up a canteen to entertain soldiers by a mysterious wealthy admirer. It featured a host of celebrity performances, including Jimmy Durante doing his hallmark "Inka Dinka Doo", Gracie Allen, and Lena Horne...
(1944) - Studio Visit (1946)
- Till the Clouds Roll ByTill the Clouds Roll ByTill The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American musical film made by MGM. The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed...
(1946) - Ziegfeld FolliesZiegfeld Follies (film)Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 Hollywood musical comedy film directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, Vincente Minnelli, Merrill Pye, George Sidney and Charles Waters...
(1946) - Words and MusicWords and Music (1948 film)Words and Music is a 1948 movie loosely based on the creative partnership of the composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The film starred Mickey Rooney, Tom Drake, Janet Leigh, Betty Garrett, and Ann Sothern, It is best remembered for the final screen pairing between Rooney and Judy...
(1948) - Some of the Best (1949)
- Duchess of IdahoDuchess of IdahoDuchess of Idaho is a musical romantic comedy produced in 1950 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed by Robert Z. Leonard, it was the fourth film pairing Esther Williams and Van Johnson...
(1950) - Meet Me in Las VegasMeet Me in Las VegasMeet Me in Las Vegas is an MGM musical comedy produced by Joe Pasternak and directed by Roy Rowland filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope. The film has a running time of 112 minutes.-Cast and crew:...
(1956) - The Heart of Show Business (1957)
- Now (1965) (includes Horne's performance of the song "Now!")
- Death of a GunfighterDeath of a GunfighterDeath of a Gunfighter is a 1969 Western film. It is most notable for the first use of the pseudonymous Allen Smithee directorial credit. It stars Richard Widmark and Lena Horne, and features an original score by Oliver Nelson...
(1969) (includes Lena Horne's vocals on the song "Sweet Apple Wine") - The WizThe Wiz (film)The Wiz is a 1978 musical film produced by Motown Productions and Universal Pictures, and released by Universal on October 24, 1978. An urbanized retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featuring an entirely African-American cast, The Wiz was adapted from the 1975 Broadway musical...
(1978) - That's Entertainment! III (1994)
Television
- What's My Line?What's My Line?What's My Line? is a panel game show which originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations....
(as Mystery Guest, September 27, 1953) - The Judy Garland ShowThe Judy Garland ShowThe Judy Garland Show is an American musical variety television series that aired on CBS on Sunday nights during the 1963-1964 television season. Despite a sometimes stormy relationship with Judy Garland, CBS had found success with several television specials featuring the star...
(as herself, October 13, 1963) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
(as herself, 1971) - Sanford & Son ("A Visit from Lena Horne" as herself, #2. January 12, 1973)
- The Muppet ShowThe Muppet ShowThe Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
(as herself, 1976) - Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
(as herself, Episode 11, November 1, 1976) - The Cosby ShowThe Cosby ShowThe Cosby Show is an American television situation comedy starring Bill Cosby, which aired for eight seasons on NBC from September 20, 1984 until April 30, 1992...
("Cliff's Birthday" as herself, May 9, 1985) - A Different World ("A Rock, a River, a Lena" as herself, July 1993)
Albums
- Moanin' Low (1942; A Victor Musical Smart Set)
- Little Girl Blue (1947; Black & White)
- Classics in Blue (1947; Black & White)
- It's LoveIt's Love (album)It's Love is a 1955 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in monoaural in 1955, Horne's debut album for the company, and her first complete studio album...
(1955; RCARCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
) - Lena Horne at the Waldorf AstoriaLena Horne at the Waldorf AstoriaLena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria is a 1957 live album by Lena Horne, conducted by Lennie Hayton, recorded at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on the evening of February 20, 1957. The album peaked at #24 in the Billboard Hot 200 and became the best selling record by a female artist in the...
(1957; RCA) - Live - Stormy WeatherStormy Weather (Lena Horne album)Stormy Weather is a 1957 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in monoaural. Recording took place between March 1956 and March 1957, at Webster Hall, New York.-Track listing:#"Tomorrow Mountain" - 2.55...
(1956–1957; RCA) - Lena Horne at the Cocoanut GroveStormy Weather (Lena Horne album)Stormy Weather is a 1957 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in monoaural. Recording took place between March 1956 and March 1957, at Webster Hall, New York.-Track listing:#"Tomorrow Mountain" - 2.55...
(1957; RCA) - Live - Jamaica [Original Cast Recording] (1957; RCA)
- Give the Lady What She WantsGive the Lady What She WantsGive the Lady What She Wants is a 1958 studio album by Lena Horne, with Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra. The third studio album Lena Horne recorded and released on the RCA-Victor label, this release peaked at #20 in the Billboard 200 album charts...
(1958; RCA) - Porgy & BessPorgy and Bess (Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne album)Porgy and Bess is an album by Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in 1959. It includes songs from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Belafonte and Horne sing two songs together: "There's a Boat That's Leavin' Soon for New York" and "Bess, You Is My Woman Now"...
(1959; RCA) - with Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s... - Songs by Burke and Van HeusenSongs by Burke and Van HeusenSongs by Burke and Van Heusen is a 1959 studio album by Lena Horne, of songs written by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. This album was released in some countries with the alternative title A Friend Of Yours. Recorded with Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra at the RCA Victor studio, New York on...
(1960; RCA) - Lena Horne at the SandsLena Horne at the SandsLena Horne at the Sands is a 1961 live album by Lena Horne, her second live recording released by RCA-Victor. Recorded over three evenings, the 3rd to the 5th of November 1960, at the Sands Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip...
(1961; RCA) - Live - Lena on the Blue SideLena on the Blue SideLena on the Blue Side is a 1962 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in stereo and monoaural in February 1962, recording took place in New York in the summer of 1961. The album features mainly blues inspired songs, a departure for Horne from her usual standards, and recordings from...
(1962; RCA) - Lena...Lovely and AliveLena...Lovely and AliveLena...Lovely and Alive is a 1962 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Marty Paich, and featuring trumpeter Jack Sheldon.At the 5th Grammy Awards Horne was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female for her performance on this album...
(1962; RCA) - Lena Horne Sings Your RequestsLena Horne Sings Your RequestsLena Sings Your Requests is a 1963 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Bob Florence and Marty Paich. After a long and successful partnership with RCA-Victor, where Horne was signed between 1955-1962. Lena Horne signed at the lesser know Charter label releasing only two albums on the label both...
(1963; Charter) - Lena Like LatinLena Like LatinLena Like Latin is a 1963 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich. Recorded in Hollywood in July 1963 and released in the summer of 1963 on the Chater label. The album was reissued on CD in 2008 by Fresh Sound Records, together with the album Lena Horne Sings Your...
(later retitled Lena Goes Latin) (1963; Charter) - Here's Lena Now! (1964; 20th Century)
- Feelin' GoodFeelin' Good (Lena Horne album)-Reception:The Allmusic review by William Ruhlmann awarded the album three and a half stars and said that "Feelin' Good was a typical effort as she and arranger/producer Ray Ellis surveyed the current state of pop and show music to find some new items for her repertoire...To this material, Ellis...
(1965; United ArtistsUnited Artists RecordsUnited Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
) - Lena in HollywoodLena in HollywoodLena in Hollywood is a 1966 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Ray Ellis. -Track listing:# "Singin' in the Rain" – 2:51# "In Love in Vain" – 2:30...
(1966; United Artists) - Merry from LenaMerry from LenaMerry from Lena is a 1966 album by Lena Horne. Released in 1966 this Christmas album marked Lena Horne's departure from United Artists and the recording industry until her return at Skye Records in 1970....
(1966; United Artists) - SoulSoul (Lena Horne album)Soul is a 1966 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Ray Ellis. Soul was the third of four albums Lena Horne recorded for United Artists Records. Recorded between September 9th 1965 and March 11th 1966, and released in June 1966...
(1966; United Artists) - Lena and GaborLena and GaborLena & Gabor is a 1970 album by Lena Horne, accompanied by guitarist Gábor Szabó. Recorded in late 1969 in New York and Los Angeles, and released in early 1970. This album was Lena Horne's first album to be released in four years, and a saw her return to the charts with the single "Watch What...
(1970; SkyeSkye RecordsSkye Records was a music label formed in early 1968 by vibist Cal Tjader, guitarist Gábor Szabó, composer/musician Gary McFarland, and music executive Norman Schwartz....
) - with Gábor SzabóGábor SzabóGábor Szabó was a Hungarian jazz guitarist, famous for mixing jazz, pop-rock and his native Hungarian music.-Biography:... - Harry & LenaHarry & LenaHarry & Lena is a 1970 studio album by Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne. In 1970 Belafonte Enterprises Production, recorded a television special for ABC featuring Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne as double billed artists. The hour special titled Harry & Lena, For The Love Life first aired on March 22,...
(1970; RCA) - with Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s... - Nature's Baby (1971; BuddhaBuddah RecordsBuddah Records was founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's founding...
) - Lena & MichelLena & MichelLena & Michel is a 1975 album by Lena Horne, arranged by Michel Legrand. This album was recorded at the RCA Studios, New York in February 1975...
(1975; RCA) - with Michel LegrandMichel LegrandMichel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist... - Lena: A New AlbumLena: A New AlbumLena: A New Album is a 1976 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Robert Farnon. -Track listing:# "I've Grown Accustomed to His Face" – 3:55# "Someone to Watch Over Me" – 4:30...
(1976; RCA) - Lena Horne: The Lady and Her MusicLena Horne: The Lady and Her MusicLena Horne: The Lady and Her Music was a 1981 Broadway musical revue, written for and starring American singer and actress Lena Horne. The musical was produced by Michael Frazier and Fred Walker, and the subsequent musical soundtrack was produced by Quincy Jones. The show opened on May 12, 1981,...
(1981; QwestQwest RecordsQwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned byWarner Music Group. although Quincy was still under contract with A&M records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 Give Me the Night LP was the first release on Qwest,...
) - Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal PerformanceGrammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal PerformanceThe Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance is the latest in a series of awards recognizing superior vocal performance by a female in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. The award goes to the artist... - The Men in My LifeThe Men in My LifeThe Men in My Life is a 1988 studio album by Lena Horne, featuring Horne in duet with Joe Williams and Sammy Davis, Jr.. At the 31st Grammy Awards, Horne was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance - Female, for her performance on this album.- Track listing :# "I Wish I'd Met...
(1988; Three Cherries) - with Joe WilliamsJoe Williams (jazz singer)Joe Williams was a well-known jazz vocalist, a baritone singing a mixture of blues, ballads, popular songs, and jazz standards.-Early life:...
and Sammy Davis, Jr.Sammy Davis, Jr.Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities.... - We'll Be Together AgainWe'll Be Together Again (album)We'll Be Together Again is a 1994 album by Lena Horne. -Track listing:# "Something to Live For" # "Day Follows Day" # "Prelude to a Kiss"...
(1994; Blue NoteBlue Note RecordsBlue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
) - An Evening with Lena HorneAn Evening with Lena HorneAn Evening with Lena Horne is a 1994 live album by Lena Horne. At the 38th Grammy Awards, Horne's performance on this album won her the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance.-Track listing:# "I Come Runnin'" – 3:08...
(1995; Blue Note) - Live, Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumGrammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album has been presented since 1977. Until 2001 this award was titled the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance... - Being MyselfBeing Myself (Lena Horne album)Being Myself is a 1998 studio album by Lena Horne, and was the final complete album she recorded. - Track listing :# "Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues" – 3:43# "As Long as I Live" – 2:27...
(1998; Blue Note) - Seasons of a LifeSeasons of a LifeSeasons of a Life was the last album by American jazz vocalist Lena Horne. Released in 2006, the album is collated from unreleased performances by Horne from 1994 to 2000, three of which were released on the album Classic Ellington, conducted by Simon Rattle...
(2006; Blue Note; recorded 1994-2000) - Lena Horne Sings - The MGM Singles (2010; Verve; recorded 1946-1947)
As featured vocalist
- A:"That's What Love Did To Me" (Sammy CahnSammy CahnSammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...
, Saul ChaplinSaul ChaplinSaul Chaplin was an American composer and musical director.He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York.He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley...
) / B:"I Take To You" (Mack GordonMack GordonMack Gordon was an American composer and lyricist of songs for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times, including six consecutive years between 1940 and 1945, and won the award once, for "You'll Never Know"...
, Harry WarrenHarry WarrenHarry Warren was an American composer and lyricist. Warren was the first major American songwriter to write primarily for film. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song eleven times and won three Oscars for composing "Lullaby of Broadway", "You'll Never Know" and "On the Atchison,...
)
Issued in 1936 on 78rpm 10" vinyl by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
on Decca 778B.
Credits Noble Sissle and His Orchestra, Lena Horne was credited as Helena Horne for this recording. Recorded on the 3rd of November 1936 in New York.
- "Stormy Weather" (1943)
- "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955) #19 U.S. Pop
External links
- Lena-Horne Tribute Site
- Entry in the New Georgia Encyclopedia
- Biography
- Remembering Lena Horne - slideshow by Life magazine
- Lena Mary Calhoun Horne
- Lena Horne turns 80
- Remembering the great Lena Horne
- Pioneering African American Actress, Singer and Civil Rights Activist Lena Horne, 92, Dies - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...