LENA HORNE - PROGRAM SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: BILLY ECKSTINE - HFSID 226827

LENA HORNE and BILLY ECKSTINE
Legendary singers Lena Horne and Billy Eckstine signed this program for a 1973 joint concert in San Carlos, California. Horne was the first black American woman to sign a long-term contract with a major movie studio, and Eckstine was the first black romantic male singer in American music.
Program signed "Hello/Lena Horne" and "Billy Eckstine", both in blue ink. B/w, 8 pages including covers, 5½x8½. Program for a joint concert at the Circle Star Theatre, San Carlos, California,May of 1973. Titled: "Lena Horne and Billy Eckstine". Sultry American jazz singer and actress HORNE (1917-2010) began performing at age six and left school at 16 to support her sick mother. She began singing at Harlem's Cotton Club in 1933, where Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington took her under their wings. She later performed with Noble Sissle's Orchestra and Teddy Wilson's big band. Horne won critical acclaim for her performance in Stormy Weather (1943) and for singing the movie's title song. Although she was the first black American woman to sign a long-term movie contract with a major studio (MGM), her films were shot so that her scenes could be cut out before being shown in the South. Horne placed a single, Love Me or Leave Me, in the Billboard Top 20 in 1955 and won two Grammy Awards (1981 for her album Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music and 1995 for her album An Evening with Lena Horne) and was nominated for a Tony in 1958 for her performance in Jamaica (1957-1959). Horne also won a special Tony in 1981 for her one-woman show Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music. ECKSTINE (1914-1993), born William Clarence Eckstine, possessed one of the most distinctive voices in popular music, a deep tone with a unique vibrato. He was the first black romantic singer of popular music, was also the first leader of a bop big band. Eckstine, whose hits include Prisoner of Love, My Foolish Heart and I Apologize, influenced soul and R&B singers from Sam Cooke to Prince. Eckstine also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar. Eckstine had his own band from 1943 to 1947, which featured then and future jazz greats like Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Miles Davis and Art Blakey. Creases and folds at signatures, else in fine condition.