Helena Springs

Helena Springs was born c. 1961.[1] in Hollywood, Los Angeles.[2] She started singing, aged 5, at church. When she was 17, she joined Bob Dylan's band as a backing singer,[2] performing throughout 1978 on his World Tour, and the following year on his Gospel Tour.[1] Academic John Hughes praised Springs and Carolyn Dennis for "[adding] such unforgettable potency to his gospel tours".[3] She appears on Dylan's albums Street-Legal (1978), Bob Dylan at Budokan (1978), and Slow Train Coming (1979), as well as the compilation The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 (2017).[4] Springs told interviewer Chris Cooper that she had not known about Dylan before he auditioned her, and that working with Dylan was her "first major gig".[5]

During the years that she worked with Dylan, Springs jointly wrote 19 songs with him, more than any of Dylan's other co-writers. She claimed in an interview that she had co-written a further three, but none of those are published with a credit for her.[1] Their joint songwriting started in Brisbane in March 1978. According to Springs, she and Dylan were together one eveing, and he was playing guitar. Springs told Dylan she was not a write, and he offered to write something together, telling her "You start singing some stuff and I'll start playing", with the two jointly composing "If I Don't Be There by Morning" and "Walk Out in the Rain" in the session.[6]^: 477 Both of those, and another collaboration, "Stop Now", were recorded by Dylan and his band during the Street-Legal sessions.[6]^: 478 Heylin included two of the acknowledged joint compositions as among the 25 best of Dylan's unreleased tracks in a 2010 article. He called "Coming From the Heart", which has been performed in concert by Dylan only once, and was covered by The Searchers, "one of Dylan's best love songs" performed just once. Heylin also included "More Than Flesh and Blood", which had been intended to be Springs' debut solo single.[7] Covers of "Walk Out in the Rain" and "If I Don't Be There by Morning" were included on Eric Clapton's 1978 album Backless.[1] In 1987, Clapton told an interviewer for Dylan fanzine The Telegrah that Dylan had handed him a cassette tape with the two songs when they met in Germany, and that "[Dylan and Springs] were co-writing, and I thibk he was very proud of it".[8]

After around three years working with Dylan, Springs joined Bette Midler as one of the Harlettes.[2][9] She contributed vocals to the Pet Shop Boys track West End Girls (1984),[10] and co-wrote a song, known variously as "New Life, New Love", "New Love" or "A New Life" with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe.[1] She was a backing vocalist on David Bowie and Mick Jagger's cover of "Dancing in the Street" (1985),[11] and performed on stage with Bowie at Live Aid the same year.[12][13] The following year, she toured with Elton John.[1]

Springs signed to Arista Records, who released her albums Helena in 1986 andNew Love in 1987. They also issued her singles "I Want You",[lower-alpha 1] "New Love", "Paper Money" and "Be Soft With Me Tonight"[1] In 1987, she told interviewers that one of her main influences was Tina Turner,[14] and that "I have never been a backing singer. I have sung with people who allowed me to be up front."[2]

"Be Soft With Me Tonight" was praised as a "haunting ballad" by Paul Cole in the Birmingham Evening Mail.[15] The reviewer of New Love in the Evening Post wrote that Springs "seems to have a penchant for hi-energy pop soul" but "doesn't really have the songs".[16] Peter Holt of The Evening Standard, highlighting the track "Paper Money", opined that Springs demonstrated a "knack for writing a good pop song" and that "'Black Stockings' makes Tina Turner sound as sexy as cold rice pudding".[17]

Springs later worked in cabaret, and launched a line of toy dolls.[1]

Springs had a personal relationship with Dylan, which is thought to be the inspiration of his song "New Pony" (1978).[18] In 1979, she started a relationship with Robert De Niro, who was filming Raging Bull at the time. In his biography of De Niro, John Parker claimed that the relationship continued on a casual basis for a number of years, and that when Springs had a child in 1982, De Niro paid her $35,000 in cash and selected the child's name. However, blood tests a decade later showed that De Niro was not the father. In the interim, Springs married executive Tony Lisandrello.[19]

Helena Springs discography at Discogs