In Elisabeth Welch: Soft Lights and Sweet Music, author Stephen Bourne celebrates the stage, screen, and radio career of this sophisticated African American actress and singer, who always defied categorization. Spanning almost a century of popular music, Welch did not fit the definition of jazz, torch, pop, or ballad singer but defined her art quite simply as telling a story in song. Whenever she sang, she demonstrated that she had no peer in the art of interpreting songs by the likes of Cole Porter, Noël Coward, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern. Her story is a fascinating one that brings readers insight about the life and times of this musical legend.