55 Secret Street : Lena Horne

My Little Brown Eye... Andre Leon Talley on Broadway?

It could happen! Andre Leon Talley says that he has been working on a one-man show for years and would love to see it on Broadway. I am so there! {New York Magazine}

Iman is set to replace Kelly Rowland as co-host of The Fashion Show with Isaac Mizrahi. I would pay to see that too. Well, okay, I wouldn't pay, but I will definitely watch. {Fashionologie}

My friend Tayari Jones reviews the novel The Long Song by Andrea Levy for the Washington Post.

Another buddy, Erica Kennedy, explains How J. Lo's Ass Changed the World at The Feminista Files.

Felicia Pride profiles Tracey Ferguson, founder of Jones magazine. {Backlisted Blog}

Can Michelle Obama make you a star? Maybe. Maybe not. {New York Times}

Lena Horne: Of Race and Acceptance. She was so much more than just a pretty face... {NPR}

Posted by Nichelle Gainer on 2010.05.11 in Lena Horne, Michelle Obama, My Little Brown Eye | Permalink | Comments (0)

The One and Only Lena Horne

Photograph © Carol Friedman

Looking back at the age of 80, Ms. Horne said: “My identity is very clear to me now. I am a black woman. I’m free. I no longer have to be a ‘credit.’ I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody; I don’t have to be a first to anybody. I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.”

In Memory of the One and Only Lena Horne.

Posted by Nichelle Gainer on 2010.05.10 in Lena Horne, She's Fabulous, She's Glamorous, She's Marvelous | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy 92nd Birthday Lena Horne!

One of our last living legends, the fiery, elegant Lena Horne is 92 years old today. As I noted in my first tribute to Ms. Horne on this site in February 2007, the first time I saw Lena Horne, I was an 8-year-old in a movie theater in Philadelphia watching her play Glinda, The Good Witch, in The Wiz. While I was more interested in Michael Jackson playing The Scarecrow, even I knew then that Ms. Horne was a legend with a capital L. The video above is a commercial that she did for The Gap in 1997.

The video above features fire and the elegance of this icon in 1982 singing "If You Believe" from The Wiz soundtrack during a tribute to another icon, Count Basie. A new biography about her life, Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne, was released last week and I will definitely be checking it out.