Legendary singer Lena Horne dies

[tomm2thumbs]

Source: AP/Yahoo

NEW YORK – Lena Horne, the enchanting jazz singer and actress who reviled the bigotry that allowed her to entertain white audiences but not socialize with them, slowing her rise to Broadway superstardom, died Sunday. She was 92. Horne died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, according to hospital spokeswoman Gloria Chin. Chin would not release any other details. Horne, whose striking beauty and magnetic sex appeal often overshadowed her sultry voice, was remarkably candid about the underlying reason for her success.

"I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept," she once said. "I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked."

In the 1940s, she was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the Copacabana nightclub and among a handful with a Hollywood contract. In 1943, MGM Studios loaned her to 20th Century-Fox to play the role of Selina Rogers in the all-black movie musical "Stormy Weather." Her rendition of the title song became a major hit and her signature piece.

<snip>

Horne was only 2 when her grandmother, a prominent member of the Urban League and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, enrolled her in the NAACP. But she avoided activism until 1945 when she was entertaining at an Army base and saw German prisoners of war sitting up front while black American soldiers were consigned to the rear.

That pivotal moment channeled her anger into something useful. She got involved in various social and political organizations and — along with her friendship with Paul Robeson — got her name onto blacklists during the red-hunting McCarthy era. By the 1960s, Horne was one of the most visible celebrities in the civil rights movement, once throwing a lamp at a customer who made a racial slur in a Beverly Hills restaurant and in 1963 joining 250,000 others in the March on Washington when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. Horne also spoke at a rally that same year with another civil rights leader, Medgar Evers, just days before his assassination.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100510/ap_on_en_mu/us_obit_horne

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sad news - such a transformational person

*only noted a few lines from the story at the link above, per DU rules. Well worth reading the full article

Video: singing/interview on Rosie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVI68Lyca6s

[DeSwiss]

1. Oh no!

I grew up listening to my mother playing the ladies' albums on old LPs: Dinah, Dakota, Ella, Nancy and Lena.

- We're going to miss you Lena....



K&R

[bondwooley]

21. RIP and Thank You for the time you spent with us. n/t

[Jazzgirl]

23. I grew up listening to my mom's old albums with the same

ladies too. Lena was my mom's favorite. She will be missed.

[classysassy]

51. What a lovely smile

Looking at that picture she reminds me of another singing legend

[classysassy]

52. Nancy Wilson

two wonderful ladies with golden voices,Lena you'll be missed.

[Kablooie]

2. Sad, she was an inspirational performer, but she lived until she was 92. A long life.

I'm glad she got to see Obama as president.

[Democat]

5. A great and long life

She got to see America change more than many of us thought possible.

RIP

[Wizard777]

3. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

:cry:

[WillyT]

4. Damn It...

:cry:

[Chipper Chat]

35. She resembles Carol Burnett in this photo.

Lena was a dynamite performer.
RIP

[tuvor]

6. RIP, Ms. Horne.

[tishaLA]

7. RIP Ms Lena

thank you for all you did.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

8. RIP to a fabulous lady with a fabulous talent and smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo

[BumRushDaShow]

9. R.I.P. dear lady

What an inspiration and fiery spirit she had always been, telling it like it was and foisting her remarkable talent out there for all to see.

Rest in peace. O8)

[ashling]

10. We will always love you, Lena

even though you have flown away ~~~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiHVsFi-Fk8&feature=related

[SemperEadem]

11. Rest in peace, Miss Horne

[Delphinus]

12. Rest in peace, Miss Horne.

Loved your music. I'm glad you had a good, long life.

[xchrom]

13. Good night, Miss Lena. Nt

[whyverne]

14. My first real date would have been around 1964.

When I took a girl named Beth to see Lena Horne and Bill Cosby at Piitsburgh's Civic Arena. Two white kids from the suburbs going "downtown". Our parents were quite worried. But the times they were a'changing.

[dana_b]

44. what a memorable first date!

and it's wonderful that you got to hear her. She will be missed!

[Captain Hilts]

15. She was pals with Eleanor Roosevelt and went to her when she realized she'd been black-listed -

"What can I do?" she asked Roosevelt.

ER smiled and replied, "There's not a thing you can do, but you're in with some lovely people."

Horne went berserk - appropriately so - when she gave a concert during THE war at an army base in the mid-west and saw that German POWs were given better seats than black soldiers.

[Patsy Stone]

16. RIP, Miss Horne.

You were fabulous, and the world is a better place for having had you in it.

[Bluenorthwest]

17. Lena Horn was one of the most amazing performers I ever

saw. I saw her in a revival of Pal Joey, long ago, and she was just splendid. Her singing was an easy pleasure. The first performance I saw, she messed up a lyric, it made her laugh, she stopped the song and started again. Her error did not throw her it amused her, and she made it into a moment that I still talk about today. I also came back the next night to see her again. And the company, let's not forget the company.
I'd gone to see her because my father said she was a great singer, and man was he right. She was a great, great singer.

[Joe Bacon]

18. Rest in peace, Lena!

A very classy lady. She will be missed. :-(

[UpInArms]

19. Rest in Peace, Lena

you are truly one of the great ones in this world.

[Mad_Dem_X]

20. Rest in peace, Dear Lady.

[Blue_Tires]

22. r.i.p.

[proudohioan]

24. R.I.P. Ms. Horne.

[goclark]

25. My aunt designed and made her clothes

They lived down the street from each other in Pittsburgh.

The only time I saw her, other than on stage, was in Downtown Los Angeles.

I was shopping and looking at the pretty dresses in the Department store.

I looked over and she was standing next to me ~ looking too!

We exchanged "Hellos."

What a talent!:cry:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

26. She is a little before my time well actually a lot before

But I loved her on Sanford And Son.

[Dappleganger]

27. She defined classy.

There will never be another as lovely as Lena Horne.

RIP :(

[Amerigo Vespucci]

28. How sad...I've been listening to Ms. Horne quite a lot lately

I've been going through an "Ultra-Lounge" phase, and one of the CDs I've had in heavy listening rotation is "Wild, Cool & Swingin' Too," which features her song "It Had Better Be Tonight."

R.I.P., Ms. Horne, and thanks for the music.

[merci_me]

29. Beautiful Lady, beautiful voice. Thank you God for the Gift of Lena

[smoogatz]

30. One of the greats.

RIP, Miss Horne.

[GigiMommy]

31. To the Legend, the Lady and her Music

R.I.P. Ms. Lena Horne. You will truly be missed.

[earcandle]

32. What a marvelous woman, and vocal and visual treat. Aaaahhhhh, beauty at its most elegant. See

you on the other side, Ms. Lena! 

[xxqqqzme]

33. Many years ago Ed Bradley interviewed Lena Horne

on 60 Minutes. The interview must have been shot over several days because I recall at the start he was very much the interviewer and formal. By the end of the piece, he was clearly smitten, gazing at her w/ a very softened voice. After the piece was over, I said to my husband, 'I think we just saw Ed fall in love.'

She was a graceful beauty w/ a beautiful voice.

[SusanaMontana41]

53. Yes! Was just thinking about that interview

Bradley definitely was smitten.

Now both are gone. :cry: Thanks for the memories ...

[defendandprotect]

34. Lena was fabulous in ever way -- intelligence, beauty, talent --

An artist who couldn't be imitated --

Beauty of body, mind and spirit --

Thank you, Lena!



PS: And, she should have been Julie in "Show Boat" --

[Norrin Radd]

36. Peace to her and condolences to her friends and family.

[bigwillq]

37. RIP

:(

[alp227]

38. I listened to some of her songs on a compilation some years ago. Her death is sad.

It was this RCA compilation The Classic Lena Horne. I found this at the library.

[ooglymoogly]

39. A beacon of light goes out.

The hurt for this loss is on too many levels to quantify. She was a blinding beacon of the black movement, to music, to bravery, to the advancement of woman, to beauty, to class, to everything that is fabulous about mankind. She was an Icon to gays. Her loss is great, but what she accomplished is greater and will not die. May the gods cradle her in their arms....our loss is their gain, for she is not one of us anymore, except in our hearts, she is one of them....those who watch over us.

[ThatsMyBarack]

40. Sesame Street 1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDvjGetw3kE

[dana_b]

45. wow - I remember watching that one

as a kid! Thanks for posting it. She was so vivacious and natural. An extremely talented woman with a real warmth to her performances - you can see it even here on a clip of a Sesame Street spot. She will be very missed.

[oasis]

46. Thanks for that, and many more thanks to Lena.

:loveya:

[nolabear]

41. An icon. Talented, classy, and a pioneer in entertainment. RIP

[LeftinOH]

42. 1951: MGM's big remake of 'Show Boat'; the role of "mulatto" Julie went to...Ava Gardner.

...and her voice was dubbed! Lena Horne was under contract at MGM, but they didn't want risk of casting a *actual* light-skinned black woman who can *actually* sing. What a shame, and what a horrible missed opportunity.

[No Elephants]

48. So, having a "mulatto" character in a movie was fine, as long as a white actress played her?

Total insanity.

[undergroundrailroad]

43. The always elegant and beautiful Lena Horne, RIP.

[sdfernando]

47. RIP Lena & THANK YOU!!!

I had the pleasure of seeing Lena Horne live in San Francisco when she was touring her 1-woman show in the 80s. What a truly fantastic talent. She held that audience in the palm of her hand for 2+hours...No one on stage at except her. I was spellbound and in awe of her talent and force of character. She talked a lot about her experiences and what she went through, teared up quite a few times too.

Thank you Lena for sharing your wonderful gift with the world and for your tireless efforts for civil rights.

[NOLALady]

55. That was a great show.

I had the pleasure of seeing it in New Orleans.

[noiretextatique]

49. good night, lovely, courageous lady

:cry: thank you for all that you did for our people and our country :patriot:

[Subdivisions]

50. Peaceful journey, Ms. Horne. Thanks for everything. n/t

[jonestonesusa]

54. Amazing life and a sad loss.

Thanks for posting this. RIP to one of the greatest civil rights warriors there ever was.

[whogasa736]

56. Great Voice is now

Gone. Hopefully never forgotten. RIP

[Doctor_J]

57. Finally Fred Sanford can meet her.

;-)

[mnhtnbb]

58. Hubby and I had the pleasure of attending a Lena Horne concert in London many years ago.

She was fabulous.

[VPStoltz]

59. We all loved and adored her talent and beauty.

I have to disagree a bit, though, with Miss Horne's assessment that she was admired only for her looks.
My mother was a fan and we listened to her recordings as we did those of Sarah Vaughan, Nat Cole, and Carmen McRae.
Many listeners LISTENED to those great voices and fell in love with the unique style of each singer.
Ms. Horne was no different. She WAS loved for her talent.
I think she, like a lot of black performers - and rightly so - confused those who wanted to make money off them from the feelings of their true fans.
I heard her on tour in, what, the 80's? and that show has remained with me as one of the greatest performances I've ever seen/heard.

[jberryhill]

60. Wonderful, talented person

Stormy Weather 1943.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCG3kJtQBKo

[Skittles]

61. lovely gal, and so talented

:cry: