Helen Morgan - Body and Soul (1930)

"Body and Soul" Words and Music by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and John Green Performed by Helen Morgan with orchestra conducted by Leonard Joy Recorded September 12, 1930, New York Helen Morgan (1900 - 1941) was born in Danville, Illinois. She worked for a while in mail order houses and in other mercantile establishments before trying her hand at show business. Her first experiences with the stage were without any particular distinction and to make something happen she entered a beauty contest and won it. The contest was won in Canada and those in the Dominion to whom it mattered much were somewhat chagrined when her birthplace was revealed. That didn't matter to Miss Morgan; all that mattered was that she'd had her first break. By the early 1920s she had firmly established her reputation as a top-flight night-club singer, both in America and abroad. In Europe, at a Command Performance before the Duke of Windsor (then the Prince of Wales), a member of the Royal household approached her and warned her not to sing any vulgar songs. She replied, "If I did, you'd have to teach them to me." Returning to the States after that triumphant European jaunt, Miss Morgan appeared in "Show Boat", the Ferber-Kern masterpiece which was to become her most successful and famous venture. Until her untimely death at the age of forty-one, Helen Morgan graced many Broadway shows, radio programs and Hollywood films.