TIME TO GET BACK TO WHAT SHE LOVES BEST
(San Bernardino, Calif) Helen Yuman spent most of her life as a professional singer. Now, after a few years off, it’s time to get back to work doing what she loves most singing in front of a live audience at churches, weddings, banquets and events.
“I started out with my two sisters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, during the ‘60s,” she recalls. “We were the Georgettes, performing for our church and doing lots of backup singing. We made about 10 records. None became national hits, but were big in the New Jersey, New York area. We did a lot of that sort of work, just to keep singing.” And “keep singing” she did. “We were on radio a lot and did a ‘Bandstand’ TV show.” The Georgettes even performed at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem during a talent search series, winning the top spot on Week One.
Then, twenty years of experience later, she was asked to join the famed Clara Ward Singers. “Mrs. Ward had heard me singing at an event at Norton Air Force Base.” The facility, in San Bernardino, was a prominent military operation until it was closed in the ‘90s. “She came up to me afterward,” Yuman remembers, “and asked me to audition for her. As a result, I joined the group and performed with them for five years.”
Clara Ward’s Ward Singers reached fame for bringing gospel music out of the church and onto stages and into nightclubs, introducing audiences to often their first taste of gospel and spirituals, even playing Las Vegas and Disneyland in the process.
Before her hiatus from the stage, Helen Yuman sang for churches throughout the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Nevada and on much of both coasts. Venues included NAACP events, appearances with the gospel great Prof. James Cleveland, yearly Martin Luther King celebrations and the annual conference of the Christian Methodist Episcopal churches held in Los Angeles and Oakland. Critics have said, “She is brilliantly able to reach the masses with her spiritual uplifting voice.”
It’s time now for Yuman to get back to what she loves best – singing. “I want to perform for the ‘people’ again. I don’t any longer need big stages and large groups. I like the intimacy of singing for weddings, banquets, church functions and community organizations. My voice and enthusiasm are as strong as ever.”
To reach Helen Yuman for bookings, call her at 909/888-0017.
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