Helen Ward (1913-1998) was a singer of swing music perhaps best known for singing in Benny Goodman's first band. She would be one of the first popular swing "girl singers", as they were then called, and among Goodman's most popular. Before working with Goodman her father had taught her piano and she appeared on radio. While performing with Benny Goodman she and Benny had a brief romance and he came very close to proposing marriage to her in either 1935 or 36 but, according to Ward in the documentary Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing, he called it off at the last minute, citing his career. ...show more

Helen Ward (1913-1998) was a singer of swing music perhaps best known for singing in Benny Goodman's first band. She would be one of the first popular swing "girl singers", as they were then called, and among Goodman's most popular. Before working with Goodman her father had taught her piano and she appeared on radio. While performing with Benny Goodman she and Benny had a brief romance and he came very close to proposing marriage to her in either 1935 or 36 but, according to Ward in the documentary Adventures in the Kingdom of Swing, he called it off at the last minute, citing his career.

She married financier Albert Marx the following year and left the band. In 1938 Marx arranged for Goodman's Carnegie Hall concert to be recorded for her as an anniversary present. That recording was later released as a dual LP set by Columbia Records in 1950. Ward continued to do sporadic studio work and also worked briefly with Peanuts Hucko.

She appeared to have effectively retired by 1960, but made a brief return in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She returned to singing at New York City clubs in 1979 and in 1981 she released The Helen Ward Song Book Vol. I. ...show less