Lena Horne is one of the most beloved|popular African-American jazz performers|singers. She was born|Born in 1917 as Lena Mary Calhoun Horne in New York City. She sang|performed with the best|greatest|most amazing|top jazz musicians including|such as Duke Ellington and Artie Shaw. She lived in Manhattan|NYC|New York City until her death|passing on May 9, 2010. Lena is most known|famous for the movie Stormy Weather, in which she sung the theme|title song, in the 1940's. Contrary to how music careers usually begin, Lena grew up in a priviliged|an elite family, in a African-American|black upscale|bourgeois neighborhood|area in Brooklyn, New York.
Her dad|father, Edwin Horne, left the family|them when she was three-years-old|3 years old. Her mom|mother, Edna Scottron, daughter of an inventor, was an actress with a African-American|black theater group and traveled much of the time|a lot. Lena's grandparents raised her. Though she was said to have been a member|part of the African-American|black elite, racial prejudice|discrimination still occurred|existed. Lena Horne and her pal|friend Paul Robeson joined|embarked on|began a journey|lifelong effort to fight for Civil Rights.
In fact, she took the civil rights movement so seriously to the point of turning down|rejecting a gig|an offer to sing|perform to a segregated audience or to an audience where the black people were there only to serve white people. Lena Horne was apart of the March on Washington just for the purpose of receiving well-deserved treatment equal to the privileged white people. In addition, Lena Horne committed herself to speaking along with performing for the NAACP, National Council For Negro Women and to assist former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in passing the anti-lynching law in America's Congress.
Even with all those major problems|serious concerns Lena|she|Ms. Horne still was able|found time to grow into|become one of the most revered|memorable Jazz performers|singers of all time|in history. She sang|performed at the cafe society, a club imitating the European cabarets to show the skills|talents of undiscovered African Americans which led to the success of Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Big Joe Turner, Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young, Hazel Scott, Sarah Vaughn, Josh White, Pete Johnson and Mary Lou Williams.
From 1947 to 1971 she|Lena Horne married|remarried again to a Jewish man: Lennie Hayton, a musical| conductor and arranger for MGM studios. Later she admitted in her life story|biography titled "Lena", by author Richard Schickel, that she married him to help her singing|performing career. Nevertheless, the mixed-race|interracial couple as always had to face pressures other|same-race spouses|couples do not, but she stayed with him until his passing|he passed away|his death. She|Lena Horne was in many|several Broadway musicals, and won a 1958 Tony|award for her performance in the calypso titled "Jamaica". Lena Horne won a Tony Award For her one woman show titled "Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music".
In 2000 she recorded another album to lend her voice to a "Classic Ellington" recording. Lena Horne is a member of the sorority Delta Sigma Theta and has been on the label Blue Note Records since 1995.
In 2005, Oprah Winfrey stated that she may ask singer/musician Alicia Keys to play the part of Lena Horne in a movie, which has yet to occur.
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