Renowned Chicago vocal teacher Lena McLin, who trained musical stars ranging from singer Jennifer Hudson to the late house music diva Kim English, died Tuesday at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey from heart failure. She was 95.
Mrs. McLin taught music for decades at Kenwood Academy High School until she retired in 1992. She also taught private lessons while sitting at the piano in the living room of her South Shore home.
Hudson was singing on cruise ships and trying to advance her career while taking private lessons from Mrs. McLin, said her daughter, Beverly Jones. Her mom watched from home as Hudson became a contestant on “American Idol” and shot to stardom.
She also taught singer Chaka Khan and Metropolitan Opera star Mark Rucker, as well as actor Mandy Patinkin when he was in the choir while attending Kenwood, according to her daughter.
Disgraced and imprisoned singer R. Kelly was another of her students at Kenwood.
“A lot of her students always remember her saying, ‘Stop majoring in minors!’ which was a reminder to deal with the important things and not the things that don’t matter,” Jones said.
Born in Atlanta to Benjamin J. Johnson, a pastor, and Bernice Dorsey Johnson, who sang in her husband’s church, Mrs. McLin was sent to Chicago at age 5 to live with her uncle, Thomas A. Dorsey, known as the father of gospel music.
She attended McCosh Elementary School, later renamed Emmett Till Math & Science Academy, and served in her uncle’s famed Pilgrim Baptist Church choir.
She later returned to Atlanta for high school and earned a music degree from Spelman College.
Mrs. McLin began teaching in Chicago in 1959 and worked at several schools before beginning at Kenwood in 1970, where she created a pilot curriculum that included all types of music, from classical to popular, according to The History Makers, a nonprofit organization that documents the experience of well-known and unsung African Americans.
She was the founder of the McLin Ensemble, a group of singers that performed around Chicago at various events, as well as the McLin Opera Company, which performed in Chicago and around the country.
She composed more than 400 pieces of music, ranging from pop to classical, including a cantata honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1981, she became an ordained minister and founded Holy Vessel Baptist Church in Hyde Park.
Her late husband, Nathaniel McLin, died in 2000.
“She was a great mother and lived a great life,” her daughter said.
At her 90th birthday party at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, Hudson sent a video that was played at the party expressing thanks to Mrs. McLin for helping her become a better singer.
In addition to her daughter, Mrs. McLin is survived by two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Services are being planned.
