Whatever happened to Lola Falana?

Answer 1

im right here...just kidding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lola_Falana

Answer 2

Lola Falana

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Whatever happened to Lola Falana?

Answer 4

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awMdr

She has Multiple Scoliosis......and she stopped preforming. She's sort of like an Evangelist and does public speaking.

Answer 5

She's singing on the Lido deck on the Love Boat

Answer 6

I think she died of cancer....but I was wrong...she is still alive, but does not perform anymore, but concentrates on a spirtual ministry.

Answer 7

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Lola Falana (born Loletha Elaine Falana on September 11, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey) is an American dancer and actress of part Cuban and African American descent. Falana’s father left Cuba to become a welder in the United States. She spent most of her childhood in Philadelphia, PA. Lola was a musical prodigy: At age three, she was dancing; at five she was singing in the church choir. Escorted by her mother, she was dancing in nightclubs by the time she was a student in junior high school. Pursuing a musical career became so important to Falana that, against her parents' wishes, she left Germantown High School a few months before graduation and moved to New York City.

When she reached New York, Falana had little money. She reportedly slept in subway cars or stations when she didn’t have enough money for better accommodations. Her first dancing gig was at Small’s Paradise in Harlem. Dinah Washington, the “Queen of Blues”, was influential in fostering Lola’s early career. While dancing in a nightclub, Falana was discovered by Sammy Davis Jr., who gave her a featured role in his Broadway musical Golden Boy in 1964. Lola’s first single "My Baby" was recorded for Mercury Records in 1965. Later in her career she recorded under Frank Sinatra’s record label. In the late 1960s Lola Falana was mentored by Sammy Davis Jr. In 1966 Davis cast her, along with himself, Ossie Davis, and Cicely Tyson, in her first film role in the American movie A Man Called Adam.

Lola Falana became a major star of Italian cinema beginning in 1967. While in Italy she learned to speak fluent Italian while starring in three movies, the first of which was considered a spaghetti western. She was known as the "Black Venus". During this time she was busy touring with Sammy Davis Jr. as a singer and dancer, making films in Italy and reprising her role in Golden Boy during its revival in London. In 1969 Falana ended her close working relationship with Sammy Davis Jr., though the two remained friends. "If I didn't break away," Lola told TV Guide, "I would always be known as the little dancer with Sammy Davis, Jr. I wanted to be known as something more."

Wanting to gain more publicity, Falana posed for Playboy magazine in 1970. She was the first black woman to model for a line of cosmetics that wasn't targeted solely to blacks, in the successful Faberge Tigress perfume ads. In those early years, she also starred in a few movies considered to be of the Blaxploitation genre.

American TV audiences got to know Lola Falana during the early 1970s. She appeared often on The Joey Bishop Show and The Hollywood Palace, showing her talent for music, dance, and light comedy. These opportunities soon led to others. She was the first supporting player hired by Bill Cosby for his much-anticipated variety hour, The New Bill Cosby Show, which made its debut September 11, 1972 on CBS. Cosby had met Falana back in his college days, when he was a struggling comic and she was a 14-year-old dancing for ten dollars a show in those Philadelphia nightclubs. Throughout the mid-1970s Falana made guest appearances on many popular shows, including regular appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Laugh-In, and The Flip Wilson Show. Falana also starred in her own popular television specials.

Falana’s fame grew as the 1970s progressed. In 1975 her disco record "There's A Man Out There Somewhere" went to #67 on the Billboard R&B chart. That same year, Lola returned to Broadway as the lead in the musical Doctor Jazz. Though the production closed after five performances, Lola was nominated for a Tony award and won the 1975 Theater World Award for her performance.

With help from her friend Sammy Davis Jr., Falana brought her act to Las Vegas and became a growing star there. By the late 1970s she was considered the Queen of Las Vegas. She played to sold-out crowds at The Sands, The Riviera, and the MGM Grand hotels. Finally The Aladdin offered her $100,000 a week to perform. At the time, Falana was the highest paid female performer in Las Vegas. The show played 20 weeks a year and became a major tourist attraction.

While still playing to sellout crowds in Las Vegas, Falana joined the cast of the short lived CBS soap opera Capitol in 1984. Soon after the show was cancelled in 1987 came a setback: a relapse of Multiple Sclerosis. Falana’s relapse was severe: her left side became paralyzed, she became partially blind, and her voice and hearing were impaired. Recovery took a year and a half, during which she spent much of her time praying. Falana attributes her recovery to a spiritual experience which she described as being able to feel the presence of the Lord. She converted to Catholicism and worked her spirituality into her everyday life. Though she had several sold-out Las Vegas shows in 1987, her new spirituality became the center of her life.

After another bout with Multiple Sclerosis in 1996, Falana moved back to Philadelphia and lived with her parents for a short time. Instead of performing, she now tours the country with a message of spirituality. When not on tour, she lives a quiet life in Las Vegas working on the apostolate she founded, The Lambs of God Ministry. The ministry is focused on helping children who have been orphaned in Sub-Saharan Africa, and works closely with the group Save Sub-Saharan Orphans. Falana's last known musical performance was in 1997, at Wayne Newton's theater in Branson, Missouri.

Falana was married to Feliciano “Butch” Tavares from 1971 until 1975. Butch Tavares was one of five brothers who formed the popular R&B band Tavares.