Helen Humes

From the age of 5, Helen Humes took her first piano and singing lessons. Later, endowed with a powerful voice, she gradually established herself in local bands and met a producer who offered her a recording session with pianist James P. Johnson. This first recording experience was a success, but her singing career had to wait, as her mother wanted her to finish her studies. So she had to wait until the end of the '30s for a second chance. Count Basie discovered her in a Cincinnati club, where she was singing with Al Sears, and offered her the chance to succeed Billie Holiday in his orchestra. After an initial hesitation, Helen Humes accepted the offer, and by 1938 she was a member of the band alongside Lester Young, Buck Clayton, Harry Sweets Edison, Jimmy Rushing and all the other brilliant soloists. With her deep singing voice and outstanding personality, Helen Humes helped boost the band's popularity between 1938 and 1942. After leaving Count Basie, the singer became one of the dominant voices of New York jazz, appearing in the city's most prestigious clubs and invited by Norman Granz to tour with Jazz At The Philharmonic. From the late '40s onwards, she pursued a more commercial career in California, performing on the blues, rhythm'n'blues and rock and roll scenes. Apart from a brief return to jazz with Red Norvo's bands in the late '50s, it wasn't until the early '70s that she made new recordings under her own name, following a reunion with Count Basie in which she took part at Stanley Dance's request. This was an opportunity for Helen Humes to continue singing the blues deeply rooted in tradition, of which she will forever remain one of the greatest interpreters.