Helen Forrest was a big band singer with Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman and Harry James. She was the most popular female singer in the U.S and recorded over 500 songs. She guided her own career to longevity and success and is your Phantom Dancer feature this week.

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HELEN

Helen Forrest said of her career, “I live for today, but it is nice sometimes to look back to yesterday. We did not know that we were living through an era – the Big Band Era – that would last only 10 years or so and be remembered and revered for ever…it’s hard to believe, but the best times were packed into a five-year period from the late 1930s through the early 1940s when I sang with the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James. The most dramatic moments of my life were crammed into a couple of years from the fall of 1941 to the end of 1943. They seem to symbolise my life…that was when the music of the dance bands was the most popular music in the country, and I was the most popular female band singer in the country and Harry had the most popular band in the country. It didn’t last long, but it sure was something while it lasted. Everyone should have something like it at least once in their lives. I’m grateful I did.”

In Helen’s early teen years her mother married a house painter. They turned the family home into a brothel.

At 14, Helen her stepfather attempted to rape her. She defended herself with a kitchen knife, injuring him.

After this, Helen’s mother let her live with her piano teacher, Honey Silverman, and her family.

Teaching her piano, Honey noticed Helen’s singing ability and encouraged her to focus on singing. Keen to find a career in singing, Helen dropped out of high school to follow her dream, first singing in her brother, Ed’s, band.

She went to New York City and in 1934, the 17-year-old Forrest sang in 15 minute shows for WNEW in New York, and then over WABC (CBS) as “Bonnie Blue, the Blue Lady of Song.”

Singing at the Madrillon Club in Washington, D.C., in 1938, she was talent-spotted by swing band leader, Artie Shaw.

BIG BANDS

Artie Shaw asked her to go on tour with him. She recorded 38 records with Shaw’s band. Two of her biggest hits with Shaw were, “They Say” and “All the Things You Are.” During her time with Shaw, Helen Forrest became a national favourite.

Helen joined Benny Goodman in December 1939. She recorded 55 records with Goodman.

She told the Pop Chronicles radio series: “Benny used to drive me crazy by ‘noodling’ behind me on clarinet while I sang.” Goodman was also reported to have been a perfectionist and a very difficult man to work with. In August 1941, Forrest quit the orchestra “to avoid having a nervous breakdown”.

After leaving Goodman, Forrest briefly recorded with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton.

In 1941, she approached Harry James, offering to work for him under the condition that she be permitted to sing more than one chorus. Although James was looking for a more jazz-oriented singer, he allowed Forrest to audition. The band voted her in and she was hired.

Forrest explained, “Harry James was wonderful. When I joined him, I said, ‘There’s only one condition, I don’t care how much you pay me, I don’t care about arrangements. The one thing I want is to start a chorus and finish it. I want to do verses, so don’t put me up for a chorus in the middle of an instrumental.’ He said, ‘You got it,’ and that was it.”

Her biggest hits with James included “I Had the Craziest Dream” in 1942, and “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You.” in 1941.

In 1942, she appeared with the Harry James Orchestra in the Hollywood film Springtime in the Rockies, starring Betty Grable.

In 1942 and 1943, Helen Forrest was voted best female vocalist in the United States in the annual  Down Beat magazine poll.

FORREST

Forrest left Harry James in late 1943 for a solo career.

She signed a record contract with Decca and co-starred with Dick Haymes on The Dick Haymes Show (CBS) from 1944 to 1947.

Helen’s first Decca disc, “Time Waits For No One”, reached number two in national polls.

Haymes was also contracted to Decca, and from 1944 to 1946 the pair recorded 18 duets, 10 of them reaching the top ten, including “Long Ago and Far Away”, “It Had To Be You”, “Together”, “I’ll Buy That Dream”, “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” and “Oh, What It Seemed To Be”.

In 1944, she made an appearance in the Esther Williams movie Bathing Beauty with Harry James and his orchestra.

She also appeared in the film Two Girls and a Sailor.

During the late 1940s, Helen Forrest headlined at theatres and clubs.

In 1955, Helen joined Harry James in the studio for the swing album,, Harry James in Hi-Fi, which became a bestseller.

By the end of the 1950s, Helen’s solo career waned as rock’n’roll became increasingly popular. Helen’s manager, Joe Graydon, said, “She was at an `in-between’ stage in her career. Not young enough to be current. Not old enough to be nostalgia.”

After a dip in recording in the 1950s, including a stint with the startup Bell Records, Helen sang with Tommy Dorsey’s orchestra, led by Sam Donahue, in the early 1960s.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Forrest performed in supper clubs on “big band nostalgia” tours, including appearances with Harry James and Dick Haymes.

In 1977, Helen was part of a television reunion of herself, James, and Haymes on The Merv Griffin Show. This led to a touring production called The Fabulous 40s (1978), followed in 1979 with a similar revue entitled The Big Broadcast of 1944.

In 1980, Helen suffered a stroke, but recovered to resume performing and recording.

Her autobiography, I Had the Craziest Dream, was published in 1982, dedicated to her only son.

Helen released her final album in 1983: Now and Forever. She also starred with Vivian Blaine and Margaret Whiting in the stage revue, A Tribute to Dick Haymes.

Despite an unhappy childhood, frequent illness, and personal disappointments, Forrest remained dedicated to her musical profession. She continued singing until the early 1990s when rheumatoid arthritis began to affect her vocal chords and forced her to retire.

Forrest had scarlet fever as a child, which left her with a hearing loss. The loss of her hearing worsened as she became older.

However, she was still able to perform her old standards because she remembered where the notes for them were.