So Long to A Lovely Legend

Lena Horne passed away Sunday. Often legend, legendary & superstar are used way too lightly to describe someone. In her case, THEY ARE AN UNDERSTATEMENT.

Looing back, it is hard to imagine the prejudices that kept her out of places & from starring in movies simply because of her skin. But she also helped to break down those barriers. In the 1940s, she was one of the first black performers hired to sing with a major white band, the first to play the Copacabana nightclub & among a handful with a Hollywood contract.

Talking about her sucess she admitted that her looks helped more than her talent at times. "I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked." While there may be some truth to that, I have to say that it was her talent that won out in the end.

& what a talent. Here are a few examples of that talent that will be sorely missed:

She even made this children's song into her own: