Lena Horne
other
June 30, 1917
Cancer
May 09, 2010
92
Brooklyn, New York
Lena Horne was a premier jazz singer who began her career as a nightclub performer at 16. She became enormously popular at the Harlem jazz club called the Cotton Club before moving to Hollywood. She was known for her signature song ‘Stormy Weather’ (1956). She appeared in numerous musicals like ‘Meet Me in Las Vegas’ (1956) before getting blacklisted in Hollywood due to her communist-backed group affiliations. A year after she announced her retirement, she became a Broadway star in a one-woman show ‘Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music’ (1981) which ran for over 300 performances.
Born African-American, MGM feared that she would be mistaken for a white woman. The cosmetics brand Max Factor came up with the makeup line the ‘Dark Egyptian’ specifically for her so she could appear darker on screen.
