Morgan, Helen
(1890–1941)> “TORCH SINGER”
Helen Morgan Popular “torch singer” of the 1920s and 1930s Helen Riggins, Danville, Ohio, August 2, 1890; Chicago, Illinois, October 8, 1941. Morgan got her start singing in Chicago nightclubs, and then came to New York to appear in George White’s Scandals in 1925. Florenz Ziegfeld spotted her the next year in another revue, Americana, and signed her for the lead in Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein’s landmark, Showboat (1927). Her singing of the love ballads “Bill” and “Can’t Help Lovin Dat Man”…