Weep for Me

by Willa Mae Lane

Overview

The Career of Willa Mae Lane "Queen of Swing" Willa Mae Lane was born April 13, 1919, the ninth of ten children of Ella and Benjamin King. As a little girl, she loved to dance and dreamed of being a professional dancer. Her brothers and sisters hated her because of her fair skin color, as she refused to work in the cotton fields with them. Her life as a child was lonely. She often thought she was adopted, but the likeness of her and her mother proved her wrong.

On her journey to fame, she moved to Cincinnati, to begin a new life. This prepared her for what was to become a great career in singing and dancing. As she finally found happiness with her sister and the family they lived with.

During her solo career as singing and dancing, she got a big break working with Lionel Hampton. This open the doors for her working all the famous clubs of her time, "COTTON CLUB" AND "APOLLO!" This marked her career to work with some of the great entertainers of the thirties.
CAB CALLAWAY, LIONEL HAMPTON, "LOUIS ARMSTRONG" just to name a few!

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162800187
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	02/09/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Willa Mae Lane was born April 13, 1919, the ninth of ten children of Ella and Benjamin King. As a child, she had a very hard time. Her brothers and sisters hated her because of her fair skin color, and because she did not work in the cotton fields with them. Her life as a child was lonely. She often thought she was adopted, but the likeness of her and her mother proved her wrong.

As a little girl, she loved to dance. She would dance all the time and dream of being a professional dancer. Her brothers and sisters didn't think she would amount to anything. Because of their dislike towards her, they favored and gave more attention to her younger sister. Her brother tried to steal her and give her to the white land owner who owned the land her father sharecropped.
Willa had a bad experience at the age of eight that later lead her to leave her family in Clayton Alabama and move to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with a sister who had also left home.
In moving to Cincinnati, she began a new life. A life that prepared her for what was to become a great career in singing and dancing. She had finally found happiness with her sister and the family they lived with. They all loved to see her dance, and as she got older the thought of her becoming a dancer was more and more possible. A dreamer she was and for good reason. For the desire that she had to become a star lead her to greatness.

Willa was well developed and large for her size and at the age of thirteen; she decided to go after her dream. Willa ran away from home and joined a traveling road show that took her across the country. Experiencing a part of life at the age of thirteen was extraordinary.