was their feature singer and considers this to be the beginning of her success.Lena decided to head out to Hollywood and see what she could do out there. She began singing in the Trocadero Club where she met one of the most influential people in her life: Billy Strayhom. Billy Strayhom was the chief music-writer for Duke Ellington. Lena has always felt that she and he were soul mates, despite the fact that he was gay. At 76 she sang a forty minute set at his funeral.While singing in the Trocadero Club she was discovered by MGM. Being a strong believer in equal rights she demanded a contract. Right then Lena earned her place in African American history as the first African-American actress in history to sign a long-term contract with a major film studio. (AMC) Lena began to emerge as the first pinup girl for African American GIs. Also she was the first African American actress to be on the cover of a movie magazine, Motion Picture Magazine 1944.Lena Horne married a white musical arranger in 1947. His name was Lennie Page 3Hayton. They kept their marriage a secret for three years because of the controversy over interracial marriages. When the marriage finally came out in the open, the couple was bombarded with numerous threatening letters. The couple was married for 24 years when he died in 1971. Devastated by his death; she moved in with her daughter.It wasnt until three years later when Tony Bennett convinced her to return to show business that she did any performing. In 1981 she put on the performance of a lifetime. Her one women show entitled Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music ran for fourteen months straight before she took the production on tour.She has always been a strong believer in equal rights. Lena has actively participated in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Council of Negro women, the Delta Sigma Theta sorority and the Urban League. Lena often offered her time sin...
