Lola Falana: Amazing black woman who was known as first lady of Las Vegas in the 1970s

June 29, 2024

- Lola Falana was one of the best in the entertainment industry in the 1970s

- The Las Vegas star started professional dancing career at the age of sixteen when she hit Danah Washington nightclub

- One of Lola's big breaks started when she met Sammy Jr Davis in 1964 and was given a feature role in Golden Boy

Lola Elayne Falana who is popularly known on stage as Lola Falana was one of the earlier Africans in the diaspora who hoisted the continent's flag high with their influence on the international scene.

She was born in Camden, New Jersey on September 11, 1942 to an Afro-Cuban father who left his home country to serve in the US Marine Corps. It was during this time that he met his African American wife.

During the 1950’s, Lola got her first dancing gig at the age of sixteen where she made a startling appearance at a Dinah Washington nightclub in Philadelphia.

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It should be noted that Washington was very instrumental to her career as a dancer. In 1964, she got a feature role in a 1964 Broadway musical Golden Boy. It was in that same year that she started a professional musical career properly.

According to Black History, she is also the first official first lady of Las Vegas, whose big professional break came when she met Sammy Jr Davis.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that American rapper T-Pain shared a great story about the rough ride he had with his finance.

In a cautionary tale on spending, the rapper recalled how he went from having $4 million to nothing due to bad spending and ill-informed investments.

One of the very first expensive things he got was the Bugatti he spent $1.2 million on and had to change five months later for peanuts because he made a hole in one its four radiators.