Generally in the arts and entertainment world you get one chance. If you are lucky you will have some success and maybe even a big hit. If you are very lucky you will have sustained success and a string of hits. Well maybe for a few years anyway. 

But in most cases that mixture of familiarity and uniqueness that combine to create something new and that special something the work brings to the world will fade as culture and taste moves on to new things. Sure there are those that get a second chance after a period of a few years out of the limelight. But it is rare indeed for any artist to have success three times with gaps of six to ten years between.

Helen Humes did just that. She could sing the blues, she could do jazz and she could sing popular standards and ballads. As she said, “I do all three, I am just a singer.” And when Count Basie lost the great Billie Holiday as a singer in his band he turned to Helen Humes to take her place.

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