Abbey Lincoln, a jazz singer, songwriter, actor and activist, died on Saturday at age 80 in New York City, a friend of hers told CNN.
Carol Friedman, who has been working on a documentary about the singer for some 20 years, said Lincoln died of natural causes Saturday morning in Manhattan. She declined to provide further details.
Lincoln started performing in the 1950s when she released her first album, "Abbey Lincoln's Affair ... A Story of a Girl in Love." Often said to have been heavily influenced by the legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, Lincoln continued to write and perform for six decades.
She was also well-known as an actress. She co-starred with Sidney Poitier in the 1968 film, "For Love of Ivy," for which she received a Golden Globe nomination.
