I've Heard That Song Before

Helen Forrest was known as the voice of the big bands for during her prodigious career she was the girl singer who fronted the bands of Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and on this CD probably most successfully, with The Harry James Orchestra, as can be seen by the list on this CD of many of her biggest hits. The probable reason for this was that when she auditioned with the James band she said that she did not care how much she was paid, but that she wanted to sing verses and not simple choruses as most band singers of the period did. Thus she was able to front the band in the same way that singers such as Frank Sinatra would later do. In 1942 and 1943 Helen Forrest was voted the best female vocalist in the United States in the Down Beat poll.