Helen Terry

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Helen Terry (born May 25, 1956) is a British singer, probably best known for her backing work with Culture Club, as well as her Aretha Franklin-like voice. She had a solo career as well, and scored a UK Top 40 hit in 1984 with "Love Lies Lost". Terry is distantly related to late 19th and early 20th century actress Dame Ellen Terry, who was the aunt of the late actor Sir John Gielgud.

1 Recording Career
2 Second Career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Recording Career

Terry sang on several albums recorded by Culture Club, most notably on their second album Colour By Numbers, which made prominent use of her vocals alongside those of lead singer Boy George. She also appeared in several of the band's videos (Time (Clock of the Heart), Church of the Poison Mind, and Victims), and often appeared on television with them on shows such as Solid Gold and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Her contributions were hailed by both the fans and the media, and she was regarded by many as the band's unofficial fifth member.

Her solo career began in 1984 with the singles "Love Lies Lost" (which she wrote in collaboration with Boy George and Roy Hay of Culture Club) and the club-oriented "Stuttering." That year she also co-wrote and recorded "Now You're Mine" with producer Giorgio Moroder for the soundtrack to the film Electric Dreams. Her solo album, Blue Notes, followed in 1986 and spawned two additional singles, "Act of Mercy" and "Come On and Find Me," while the soundtrack to the film Quicksilver featured her duet with Ray Parker, Jr., on the song "One Sunny Day." Her career and personal life were disrupted, however, by the arrest of Boy George on drug-related charges in Summer 1986, which pulled Terry into the midst of legal investigations and court hearings, as the story of George's "downfall" received relentless coverage in the British press.

In 1989, signed to a different record label, she released an EP, Fortunate Fool, featuring three new songs. Two of these, "Fortunate Fool" and "Lessons in Loneliness," were also released as singles, but differences with her record company led to a deadlock over plans for an album, and her contract prohibited her from recording elsewhere. In a May 2001 interview for the website The Devil in Sister George she explained: "I had an argument with the A&R man - he wanted me to make a dance record and I cannot dance. So I walked (which I can do)."

Terry's enduring friendship with Boy George hit a bump when George published his 1995 autobiography Take It Like A Man in which he nonchalantly "outed" her and described their mutual use of illicit drugs in the mid-1980s. As a result, the two were not on speaking terms for several years, and Terry did not participate in the Culture Club reunion in the late 1990s. In the May 2001 interview cited above, however, Terry reported that she and George had renewed their friendship.

[edit] Second Career

After she stopped singing professionally, Helen Terry concentrated her efforts on film-making and production. In recent years she has successfully established herself as a producer of music-related television programs, most notably several editions of the BRIT Awards, billed as "the UK's biggest music awards show," which as of 2007 she continues to oversee.

In February 2006 she told The Independent that she strives "to make sure the artists are treated very well. We go out of our way to make the backstage area extraordinarily comfortable; after all the show now goes out to 200 million people worldwide. Of course, we don't tell them that before they go onstage."

She also explained that she establishes the show's running order "like a track-listing. I make a CD, take it home, move songs around, think about the mood. It's like making an album."

When not working in London, Helen Terry lives in Scotland.

[edit] References

Brown, Helen, "Putting on the Brits," The Independent, February 11, 2006
Garfield, Simon, "Brit Parade," The Observer, February 20, 2005
Hansson, Jessica, Interview with Helen Terry, conducted May 8, 2001, published on the website The Devil in Sister George
O'Dowd, George [Boy George], Take It Like A Man (1995) ISBN 978-0060173685