Jazz singer Lena Horne dies aged 92
Monday, May 10, 2010
NEW YORK (AFP) - – Jazz singer Lena Horne, who was the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract by a major Hollywood studio, has died at the age of 92, The New York Times reported.
The newspaper said the death occurred late on Sunday at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and was announced by her son-in-law, Kevin Buckley.
Horne appeared in scores of war-time musicals, including "Thousands Cheer" (1943), "Broadway Rhythm" (1944), "Two Girls and a Sailor" (1944), "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946), and "Words and Music" (1948), according to the report.
Hornes first MGM movie was "Panama Hattie" (1942), in which she sang Cole Porters "Just One of Those Things."
She also directed two all-black movie musicals, both made in 1943, The Times said.
Horne is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, according to the report. Her husband died in 1971 and her son died of kidney failure the same year.