The first person of color signed to a longterm contract with a Hollywood, sultry singer and movie icon died yesterday at the age of 92.
From “Cabin In The Sky” to “The Wiz” Lena Horne was a race barrier crashing, pulse racing knockout and it all came to a head with her one woman show on Broadway in 1981.
In 1943 Lena starred in “Stormy Weather” and the song became her signature tune.
Her life story, from Bedstuy back when it was a black middle class enclave, Lena went from nightclubs, to big band touring, to movies to musicials, to crossover musicals, back to nightclubs (she refused to sing in segregated clubs), to sitcoms and soaps and finally back to broadway!
Some life. We lost a great one.