The star passed away at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday (09May10), but her cause of death was unknown as WENN went to press.
Horne shot to fame in 1943 when she starred in film musical Stormy Weather and the title track became her signature song.
During her career, she became a voice for the civil rights movement in the U.S. and was one of Hollywood’s first black pin-ups.
She was struck by tragedy in the early 1970s when her husband, son and father died within a period of 12 months.
Horne announced her retirement in 1980, but in 1981 she put on an award-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, on Broadway and in London.
She went on to win a string of Grammy awards, was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame by the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site.
Horne is survived by her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley.
