Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving on to Hollywood and Broadway.
"You Do Something to Me" is a song written by Cole Porter. It is notable in that it was the first number in Porter's first fully integrated-book musical Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929). In the original production, the song was performed by Genevieve Tobin and William Gaxton, performing the roles of Looloo Carroll and Peter Forbes, respectively.
"Do Nothing till You Hear from Me" is a song with music by Duke Ellington and lyrics by Bob Russell. It originated as a 1940 instrumental that was designed to highlight the playing of Ellington's lead trumpeter, Cootie Williams. Russell's words were added later. In 1944, Ellington's own recording of the song was a number one hit R&B chart for eight non-consecutive weeks and number six on the pop chart.
Leonard George Hayton was an American musician, composer, conductor and arranger. Hayton's trademark was a captain's hat, which he always wore at a rakish angle.
So Smooth is Perry Como's first RCA Victor 12" long-play album, recorded and originally released in 1955. This was also Perry's first album recorded at Webster Hall in New York City, and his first album with the Ray Charles Singers who would support him generally throughout the remainder of his recording career. So Smooth was released in the UK as We Get Letters Volume 2 as Perry's popularity gained international appeal during the late 1950s; under this title, the album peaked at number 4 in the Record Mirror album chart, entering on 28 June 1958 and spending seven weeks within the Top 5.
Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. It is set on a small island off the coast of Jamaica, and tells about a simple island community fighting to avoid being overrun by American commercialism.
Here's to the Ladies is an album by Tony Bennett, released in 1995.
Porgy and Bess is an album by Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in 1959. It features songs from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. Belafonte and Horne sing two songs together: "There's a Boat That's Leavin' Soon for New York" and "Bess, You Is My Woman Now". The album was re-issued on a 2-CD set in 2003 together with Jamaica by BMG Collectables in Stereo. The album was ranked No. 1 in Canada for 10 of the 11 weeks between August 31 and November 9, 1959.
The Men in My Life is a 1988 studio album by Lena Horne, featuring Horne in duet with Joe Williams and Sammy Davis, Jr.
Being Myself is a 1998 studio album by Lena Horne, and was the final original studio album released during her lifetime. It came out shortly before she turned 81.
Lena Like Latin is a 1963 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Shorty Rogers and Marty Paich. Recorded in Hollywood in July 1963 and released in the summer of 1963 on the Chater label. The album was reissued on CD in 2008 by Fresh Sound Records, together with the album Lena Horne Sings Your Requests. The CD issue featured a bonus track "He Loves Me" that was previously only issued on 45rpm single.
Lena Horne at the Sands is a 1961 live album by Lena Horne, her second live recording released by RCA Victor. Recorded over three evenings, the 3rd to the 5th of November 1960, at the Sands Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Re-issued on CD in 2002 on the BMG Collectables label together with Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria.
Songs by Burke and Van Heusen is a 1959 studio album by Lena Horne, of songs written by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen. This album was released in some countries with the alternative title A Friend Of Yours. Recorded with Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra at the RCA Victor studio, New York on December 1 and 9, 1958, completed on January 5, 1959. The complete album has been re-issued on CD in Stereo, firstly in 2001 by BMG, Japan and by Avid Easy Records in 2010.
Give the Lady What She Wants is a 1958 studio album by Lena Horne, with Lennie Hayton and His Orchestra. The third studio album Lena Horne released on the RCA Victor label, this album peaked at #20 in the Billboard 200 album charts. The album has been re-issued on CD, firstly by BMG/RCA, Japan in 2004 and in 2010 by Avid Easy Records, together with two other studio albums, Stormy Weather and A Friend of Yours. This 2CD release also includes the live RCA Victor recordings At the Waldorf Astoria and the four tracks previously only available on the EP At the Cocoanut Grove.
Lena Sings Your Requests is a 1963 studio album by Lena Horne, arranged by Bob Florence and Marty Paich. After a long and successful partnership with RCA Victor, where Horne was signed between 1955-1962, Lena Horne signed at the lesser known Charter label releasing only two albums on the label both in 1963. This the first was recorded in Hollywood on January the 15th and 17th 1963 and released in the spring of 1963 on the Charter label. For this album Horne returned to re-record many songs that she had previously recorded in the 1940s and 1950s, several of which she had performed on screen, such as "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Can't Help Lovin' That Man". The album also features the fourth studio recording of the song "Stormy Weather" by Lena Horne. The album was reissued on CD in 2008 by Fresh Sound Records together with the album Lena Like Latin.
Lena on the Blue Side is a 1962 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in stereo and monoaural in February 1962, recording took place in New York in the summer of 1961. The album features mainly blues inspired songs, a departure for Horne from her usual standards, and recordings from the Great American Songbook. The recordings were arranged and conducted by Marty Gold. The album was received well by the music press and Billboard Music Week of February 1962 rated it with a four star. Charting in the Billboard 200 album chart at # 102. The complete album has only been re-issued on CD in Japan in 1991.
Lena Horne at the Waldorf Astoria is a 1957 live album by Lena Horne, conducted by Lennie Hayton, recorded in Stereo at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City on the evening of December 31, 1956. One of the first non-classical live albums to be recorded in Stereo, the monaural album peaked at #24 in the Billboard Hot 200 and became the best selling record by a female artist in the history of the RCA Victor label. The album was re-issued on CD in 2002, by Collectables Records, together with Horne's 1961 live album Lena Horne at the Sands.
Stormy Weather is a 1957 studio album by Lena Horne, released by RCA Victor in monophonic. Recording took place between March 1956 and March 1957, at Webster Hall, New York.
Johnny Mathis in Person: Recorded Live at Las Vegas is a live album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was recorded at Caesars Palace and released on December 22, 1971, by Columbia Records. All but five of the 23 songs performed had appeared on his studio albums, while the five previously unrecorded songs have not appeared on a Mathis studio album since.
Broadway is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was recorded in 1964 but not released by his then record label Mercury Records. The project first became commercially available on August 28, 2012, when Sony Music Entertainment released it as one of two albums on one compact disc, the other album being his 1965 LP Love Is Everything. Broadway was also included in Sony's Mathis box set The Complete Global Albums Collection, which was released on November 17, 2014.
