Helen Ward was born September 19, 1913 in New York City and was taught her piano by her father, appeared on WOR and WNYC radio broadcasts and also worked as a staff musician at the latter. Helen started singing in Benny Goodman ’s first band in 1934 and became one of the first popular swing "girl singers", as they were then called, and among Goodman's most popular.

Ward and Benny had a brief romance and he came very close to proposing marriage to…