Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s".
Early life
Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the time she was 15, she and her older sister, Alice, were singing duets in clubs and hotels and on radio stations in Toledo.
Career
O'Connell launched her career as a big-band singer with Larry Funk and his Band of a Thousand Melodies. She was singing with Funk's band in Greenwich Village when Jimmy Dorsey's manager discovered her.
O'Connell joined the Dorsey band in 1939 and achieved her best selling records in the early 1940s with "Green Eyes", "Amapola", "Tangerine" and "Yours". In each of these Latin-influenced numbers, Bob Eberly crooned the song which Helen then reprised in an up-tempo arrangement. In March 1955 O'Connell visited Australia as a support act on the landmark tour headlined by singer Johnnie Ray, which set a new box office record for Australia that stood until the 1964 visit by The Beatles (and during which local media also reported that O'Connell was romantically linked with Ray). O'Connell also was the featured singer on The Russ Morgan Show on CBS TV in 1956. In 1957, she had her own 15-minute program, The Helen O'Connell Show, twice a week on NBC. The format was that each member performed solo for 30 minutes and finally they all joined up together to sing as a group for about ten minutes. The act was very successful for several years and toured all over the USA. Whiting and Rose Marie left the group and were replaced by Martha Raye and Kay Starr with the show being renamed The New 4 Girls. The group finally disbanded in 1989.
In 1992, O'Connell was featured along with The Andrews Sisters and Kay Starr in the KCET special Those Fabulous 40s. Her final performance was at the Valley Forge Music Festival in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on August 14, 1993.<br>
1939 Especially for You #10<br>
1940 Little Curly Hair in a High Chair #10<br>
1940 Six Lessons with Madame La Zonga #4<br>
1940 The Bad Humor Man #23<br>
1941 You’ve Got Me This Way #19<br>
1941 Amapola (with Bob Eberly) #1<br>
1941 Green Eyes (with Bob Eberly) #1<br>
1941 Yours (with Bob Eberly) #2<br>
1941 Embraceable You #23<br>
1941 Time Was (with Bob Eberly) #10<br>
1941 Jim (with Bob Eberly) #2<br>
1942 I Said No! (with Bob Eberly) #10<br>
1942 Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry #18<br>
1942 Not Mine #22<br>
1942 Tangerine (with Bob Eberly) #1<br>
1942 If You Build a Better Mousetrap (with Bob Eberly) #23<br>
1942 I Threw a Kiss in the Ocean #12<br>
1942 Wonder When My Baby’s Coming Home #22<br>
1942 Take Me #7<br>
1942 Brazil (with Bob Eberly) #14<br>
Solo career with Capitol Records
1951 Would I Love You (Love You, Love You) #16<br>
1951 Slow Poke #8<br>
1952 Be Anything (But Be Mine) #27<br>
1952 Winter Can’t Quench the Fire of Love (with Gisele Mackenzie) #21<br>
1953 Lipstick-A-Powder-'N-Paint (with Gisele Mackenzie) #20<br>
Albums
- 1957 - Green Eyes (Vik)
- 1961 - Recapturing the Excitement of the Jimmy Dorsey Era (with Bob Eberly)
- 1962 - Here's Helen (RCA Camden)
- 1963 - An Era Reborn with Helen O'Connell
- 1970 - The Inimitable Helen O'Connell in a Beautiful Friendship
- 1971 - Helen O'
- 1972 - This is Helen O'Connell (RCA Victor)
- 1975 - Christmas with Helen O'Connell
Personal life and death
O'Connell was married to wealthy playboy Clifford Smith, Jr., from 1941 to 1951, and novelist Tom T. Chamales from 1957 to 1960,
On August 8, 1965, the Los Angeles Police Department found O'Connell unconscious in her car. United Press International reported: "Police said they found 12 capsule sleeping pills in the car." She was transported to Hollywood Receiving Hospital, where her stomach was pumped.
Her third and final marriage was in 1991, to arranger-conductor-composer Frank De Vol.