Even though her parents did not want her to be a singer, she still spent a lot of time doing it. Her family thought that she was able to do better things. Later, she decided to leave high-school to spend her time singing. Horne cared a lot about helping people without equality. Horne was a singer, actress, and dancer. She mostly sang a type of music called the blues and had a strong voice. Horne began her career in the arts by dancing and singing at the Cotton Club when she was 16. When she was 25, Horne became the first black singer with a long term singing contract. A few years later she was very popular in clubs. In the 1940s and 1950s she was in many movies and musicals, such as "Stormy Weather", "The Wiz", "Ziegfeld Follies", "Till the Clouds Roll By", "Death of a Gunfighter", and in "The Duke is Tops". At age 46, Horne wrote a book about herself called “Lena.” She won the Spingarn Medal, the Tony Award, and the Drama Desk Award. Horne won these awards at ages 64 and 66. Horne died on May 9, 2010 in New York City, New York from heart failure, aged 92. 