Helen Forrest

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Helen Forrest (actually Helen Fogel ; born April 12, 1917 in Atlantic City , New Jersey , USA ; † July 11, 1999 in Woodland Hills , California , USA) was an American singer .

Through her engagement with the most famous orchestras of the swing era , she was known as “the voice of the name bands”.

Life

Helen Forrest was born into a Jewish family in Atlantic City. At the age of ten she first appeared as a singer with her brother's band. She later began her singing career with the radio station CBS under the name Bonnie Blue .

Forrest became better known in 1939 when the band leader Artie Shaw hired her as a singer after Billie Holiday had left his orchestra the year before. With Shaw, Forrest recorded 38 singles within a short period of time; The best known are They Say , Comes Love and All the Things You Are .
In late 1939, Forrest moved to Benny Goodman's band , with whom she recorded a number of successful pieces, including Perfidia and The Man I Love . 1940 followed recordings with Nat King Cole and Lionel Hampton . With the orchestra of Harry James , which she engaged in 1941 , she had her greatest successes at the time, including I Had the Craziest Dream and I Don't Want to Walk Without You. Forrest also had a private relationship with James before he met Betty Grable , his future wife.

In late 1943 Forrest left Harry James' orchestra and pursued a solo career. In the summer of 1944 she achieved a hit with the title Time Waits For No One , which reached number 2 on the pop charts. In the late 1940s she appeared as a singing partner of Dick Haymes on his radio show. With him she sang the duet Some Sunday Morning, among others . After it had become quieter around them in the 1950s , Forrest reappeared in the early 1960s with the orchestra of Tommy Dorsey under the direction of Sam Donahue. In addition, she continued to have numerous vocal appearances in evening restaurants. In 1983 she released her last album.

Helen Forrest performed as an audience singer until the early 1990s , when arthritis forced her to retire. During her career she had recorded over 500 pieces. Forrest has also appeared in various musicals , including Bathing Beauty (1944) and Two Girls and a Sailor (1944). She was also active as an advocate for civil rights . Helen Forrest was married three times and divorced as many times. She has one son, Michael Forrest Feinman.

Helen Forrest died of heart disease in California at the age of 82. She is buried in the Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles .

literature

  • Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs - 100 Years of American Popular Music - The Stories of the Creators and Performers . New York City, Black Dog & Leventhal, 2005. ISBN 1-57912-448-8 .
  • Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America - A Compendium of Great Voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-WIERT, 1992. ISBN 3-85445-075-3 .

swell

  1. ↑ When she was with the Harry James Orchestra, see Simon, George T .: The Big Bands . With a foreword by Frank Sinatra. 3rd revised edition. New York City, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co and London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1974, pp. 270f
  2. ↑ US catalog number: Decca 18600
  3. ^ Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Records 1940–1955 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, 1973, p. 22

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Forrest, Helen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fogel, Helen (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlantic City , New Jersey,
DATE OF DEATH July 11, 1999
Place of death Woodland Hills , California, USA