Entertainer Lena Horne, who died on Sunday, was an amazingly visual singer—thus it’s hardly surprising that she was the first African-American vocalist to have a substantial career in the movies. But her talents were not exclusively visual: even when working in a purely aural medium, she was a brilliant and often swinging interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Horne tended to denigrate her own singing ability, thinking of herself as just another pretty face, but her recordings were consistently outstanding, and she made more than a few classic albums over what has to be the longest career of any major American performer. – From Vanity Fair