Horne, Lena (1917–)

African-American singer and actress. Born Lena Horne, June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, NY; m. Louis Jones, 1937 (div. 1940); m. Lennie Hayton (musician, composer), 1947 (died Feb 1971); children: (1st m.) Gail Lumet Buckley (b. 1937); Teddy Jones (1940–1971).

Spent most of childhood on the road with mother, an actress; dropped out of high school at 16 to join chorus line at Harlem's Cotton Club (1933); toured with Noble Sissle's Society Orchestra, then Charlie Barnet's band (it was Barnet who taught her emotional phrasing and dramatic overtones which would become trademarks of her style); released 1st album for RCA, The Birth of the Blues, and made 1st appearance at NY's Cafeé Society Downtown; signed 7-year contract with MGM (1941), though film roles were mainly limited to cameo singing appearances, including The Duke Is Tops (1938), Panama Hattie (1942), As Thousands Cheer (1943), Broadway Rhythm (1944), Ziegfeld Follies (1946); Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) and Words and Music (1948); starred in 2 film adaptations of Broadway musicals featuring top black entertainers, Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather, the film that gave Horne her signature song; blacklisted from film and tv industry during McCarthy era (1950s); active in Civil-Rights campaign (1960s); returned to screen (1969) in 1st non-musical role Death of a Gunfighter; made The Wiz (1978); career spanned over 6 decades. Won a Tony, Grammy, and Drama Desk award for record-breaking one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music (1982); received Kennedy Center's Lifetime Achievement Award (1984).

See also autobiography (with Richard Schickel) Lena (Doubleday, 1965); Brett Howard, Lena (Holloway, 1981); Gail Lumet Buckley, The Hornes: An American Family (Knopf, 1986); and Women in World History.