Jazz Singer Abbey Lincoln Dies at 80

Abbey Lincoln, a prominent jazz singer and civil-rights activist, died at her home in Manhattan on Saturday. She was 80. Lincoln, largely considered one of jazz music’s most versatile singers, gained significant renown over the last two decades, the culmination of which was a three-concert retrospective presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002. “Her utter individuality and intensely passionate delivery can leave an audience breathless with the tension of real drama,” Peter Watrous wrote in The New York Times in 1989. “A slight, curling phrase is laden with significance, and the tone of her voice can signify hidden welts of emotion.” Born in Chicago in 1930, Lincoln grew up in Michigan and eventually moved to L.A., where her career took off. In 1962, Lincoln married legendary jazz drummer Max Roach and had a burgeoning acting career before resuming to music performance in the 1980s.