
Known for
Acting
Born
May 23, 1920
Birthplace
Lima, Ohio, USA
Died
September 9, 1993 (aged 73)
Helen O'Connell was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s."
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. O'Connell was selected by Down Beat readers as best female singer in 1940 and 1941 and won t...
1964
1963
1962
1960
1959
1957
1956
1955
1954
1950
1943
as Herself
1943
1942
as Dorsey Band Vocalist