Helen Humes

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1913, blues/pop singer Helen Humes is probably best known for her work with Count Basie and His Orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s. As a child she took piano and vocal lessons, and at 14 years of age she was discovered by blues musician Sylvester Weaver, who signed her to a record contract and took her to St. Louis in 1927 to record. She later traveled to New York City for further recording sessions. She stayed in New York and sang in the city's renowned cabaret scene, and in 1938 she came to the attention of legendary musician/producer John Hammond, who liked what he heard and set her up with the Count Basie Orchestra, which was looking for a replacement for Billie Holiday, who had just left the band after having signed a recording contract (ironically, Basie had offered Humes the job a year earlier, and she had turned him down). Humes toured and recorded with the band until 1942, when she left to go out on her own. She later traveled to California and sang with the Norman Granz band in Los Angeles, and stayed with them until the early 1950s. In addition to recording albums, she also sang on the soundtrack of such films as Panic in the Streets (1950) and My Blue Heaven (1950), and later joined with vibraphonist Red Norvo's band. In the early 1960s she toured Europe with the American Folk Blues Festival with such blues icons as T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. Her career had begun to fade, however, and by the mid-'60s she had retired and returned to Louisville to be with her family. In 1973 she was invited to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival, and she was such a hit there that she began to record again and embarked on another European tour. She died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, in 1981.