Black History Month Tribute.

In honor of Black History Month I decided to take the time to remember an icon of the music industry. She's not played in your car today, in fact it would be kind of weird, but she has influenced our music today and is a legend of the Harlem Renissance. Ms. Lena Horne is known as one of the most popular African American entertainers of the twentieth century. Born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 30, 1917, Horne was an actress, singer, and civil rights pioneer, who was considered one of the most talented and influential women of her generation. She drew her influence from her grandmother, Cora Calhoun a philanthropist, advocate of education for Blacks, and a seasoned political activist.  Lena became a member of the NAACP as a toodler.

That is until she moved with her mother and started to work at the Cotton Club to help her family. There, Horne was influenced by such major figures as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. She eventually joined the orchestra of famed band leader Noble Sissle and toured the country, where she first earned her fame and recongnition. She credited Sissle’s mentorship as the bedrock on which she built her future career. She became the first Black actress to sign a long term contract with a major Hollywood studio, and starred in movies such as, Panama Hattie, Cabin the Sky, Stormy Weather,and the classic The Wiz. But ,Stormy weather is where she got her break as a singer, singing the song "Stormy Weather". She was qouted saying, “Whatever petitions I’ve signed or benefits I’ve played I’ve not done because I had any broad or deep political program I was pushing. I had just learned from my father and from my grandmother not to take any nonsense from anybody.” Ms. Horne has been honored as a recipient of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The honorable Lena Mary Calhoun Horne passed away on May 9, 2010, but her music and inspirational spirit  lives on today and forever.