Helen Southern

Big band singer, actress, and beauty queen from Louisiana, who sang with the orchestras of Larry Clinton, Woody Wilson, Jan Garber, and Jan Savitt (as Helen Warren). She also made singing appearances in the movies "Jam Session" (1944), as well as "My Reputation" (1946). During World War II, she traveled the country, especially military bases, singing for the troops. At the end of the war she successfully screen tested in Hollywood for small acting jobs, but with little money to sustain her, she was forced to return home. Back in New Orleans, she began singing with the Leon Kelner band in the Blue Room of the Roosevelt Hotel, where she performed until the birth of her first child in 1947. With her marriage to a saxophonist not working out, she had to find steady work to support her mother and baby daughter. Born: 15 March 1922 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Died: 27 September 2017 in Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA