Horne, Lena (Calhoun) (1917– )

US singer and actor. She performed in the musical Blackbirds of 1939 and by 1938 she was appearing in films, becoming the first African-American to be signed to a long-term contract. The title song of the film Stormy Weather (1943) became her signature. She was blacklisted in the early 1950s for her friendship with Paul Robeson and her outspokenness about discrimination, but she performed in the musical Jamaica in 1957 and later made several films.

Born in New York City, she was raised by her actor mother, and by the age of 16 she was dancing at Harlem's Cotton Club. With her stunning looks and electric voice, she soon became a popular singer with bands such as those of Noble Sissle and Teddy Wilson. She toured Europe and the USA as a nightclub singer, spoke out increasingly against racism, and published her autobiography Lena in 1965.