Memory’s a strange thing. We’ve known of Lena Horne through ‘Stormy Weather,’ TV, news, and talks with the family. It was not until we saw her sing “Bein’ Green” and the shy Grover bit on Sesame Street that it really hit us.
Lena Horne is gone.
Although she did not regard herself as a jazz singer, she had a formidable sense of rhythm and an easy-going style which went well in a jazz context. As a film actress she had notable success in Stormy Weather (in which she sang the title song) and Cabin In The Sky. Her refusal to play demeaning roles, or to allow her light complexion to be darkened with make-up, made enemies in Hollywood but in the long run brought her great public respect.
Despite — or perhaps because of — the lightness of her skin-colour, she became known as Hollywood’s first “black†star. Her family had been relatively affluent and middle-class since the 1880s, but this did not prevent her, in the early stages of her career, from experiencing difficulties in the racially segregated United States: initially she was mistrusted by both the white and the black communities.
Full obituary at Telegraph
