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Lena
The bestselling autobiography illustrated with photographs.
Hardcover
Published January 1, 1965
128 people want to read
About the author
Lena Horne
40 books6 followersLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress and dancer.
Horne joined the mike chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her progressive political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood.
Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs as well as television, and releasing well received albums. Horne announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway, and earned her numerous awards and accolades, and she would continue recording and performing sporadically into the 1990's.
Horne joined the mike chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her progressive political views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood.
Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on Washington in August 1963, and continued to work as a performer, both in nightclubs as well as television, and releasing well received albums. Horne announced her retirement in March 1980, but the next year starred in a one woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, which ran for more than three hundred performances on Broadway, and earned her numerous awards and accolades, and she would continue recording and performing sporadically into the 1990's.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 27, 2016
I have been a fan of Lena Horne since I was a little girl, when I saw her on Sesame Street singing with Grover about being shy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Y0l.... I remember wishing I had a friend like that to sing to me when I was feeling shy. She was so spunky and sassy, so elegant and classy... and that voice could even make the ABC's sound cool.
I discovered that there were a few books to choose from to learn more about her life, and although it wasn't the easiest thing to track down, I chose this one, because it was the only one told by Lena herself. She wrote the book with Richard Shickel in the mid-1960's, long before she performed on either Sesame Street or in The Wiz, which are her most memorable performances for me, but this book is a beautifully written chronicle of her life and the experiences that brought her to that point in her career.
One can almost hear Lena's voice while reading the text: "How I hated those awful phrases they used to trot out to describe me! Who the hell wants to be a 'chocolate chanteuse?'"I loved how this book was so intimate and honest. While Lena admits that because of the racism she endured throughout her life, she often distanced herself from others, she arrived at a place in the mid-1960's, when this book was written, that she could finally be truly comfortable just being herself.
I think our society often forms an illusion around famous singers and actors, causing us to believe the glamour and talent come effortlessly, but Lena's story is refreshing in that we can see her relentless hard work and the self-doubt that she had along the way. One of the most poignant quotes for me in this book was in reference to a conversation she had with Count Basie, when Lena wasn't sure she was cut out for the opportunities in show business that were coming her way. She said, "What I took away from my encounter with him was the knowledge that this was the kind of a favor you prove yourself worthy of only after it is given. That is, the way you use it is the important thing, not the question of whether you really deserved it in the first place." She may have had her times of self-doubt, but ultimately, she took the opportunities she was given and made the most of them.
My other favorite quote from Lena is this: "You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way." It must have been very difficult to endure the racism that Lena endured for decades in her early career, but she kept her head held high, and triumphed in the end. Her story is refreshingly honest and greatly inspiring. I highly recommend reading it.
I discovered that there were a few books to choose from to learn more about her life, and although it wasn't the easiest thing to track down, I chose this one, because it was the only one told by Lena herself. She wrote the book with Richard Shickel in the mid-1960's, long before she performed on either Sesame Street or in The Wiz, which are her most memorable performances for me, but this book is a beautifully written chronicle of her life and the experiences that brought her to that point in her career.
One can almost hear Lena's voice while reading the text: "How I hated those awful phrases they used to trot out to describe me! Who the hell wants to be a 'chocolate chanteuse?'"I loved how this book was so intimate and honest. While Lena admits that because of the racism she endured throughout her life, she often distanced herself from others, she arrived at a place in the mid-1960's, when this book was written, that she could finally be truly comfortable just being herself.
I think our society often forms an illusion around famous singers and actors, causing us to believe the glamour and talent come effortlessly, but Lena's story is refreshing in that we can see her relentless hard work and the self-doubt that she had along the way. One of the most poignant quotes for me in this book was in reference to a conversation she had with Count Basie, when Lena wasn't sure she was cut out for the opportunities in show business that were coming her way. She said, "What I took away from my encounter with him was the knowledge that this was the kind of a favor you prove yourself worthy of only after it is given. That is, the way you use it is the important thing, not the question of whether you really deserved it in the first place." She may have had her times of self-doubt, but ultimately, she took the opportunities she was given and made the most of them.
My other favorite quote from Lena is this: "You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way." It must have been very difficult to endure the racism that Lena endured for decades in her early career, but she kept her head held high, and triumphed in the end. Her story is refreshingly honest and greatly inspiring. I highly recommend reading it.
December 27, 2021
This book is becoming more difficult to find, yet is critical to understanding Horne's entire story that lines up so closely with the development of America's civil rights movement. Books about Horne published after this 1965 work certainly rely on the rich detail of her writing. The beauty of reading this one in 2021 is realizing the boldness of her words and conviction in her voice, as spoken to a 1965 reader. Whether that reader was of color or white, there's no way they weren't educated and changed by her book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews