Helen Grayco born 20 September 1924

Helen Grayco (born Helen Greco; September 20, 1924) is an American singer and actress active from the 1930s to the 1960s. She was most famous for appearances with her husband Spike Jones on The Spike Jones Show in the 1950s and the 1960s. She is also the mother of producer and Emmy recipient, Spike Jones, Jr. and Leslie Ann Jones, a Grammy award-winning recording engineer.

Grayco was born in Tacoma, Washington. She was the 10th of 11 children born to parents Charles Battiste and Rosina "Rose" Greco. She had five brothers; John, Ralph, George, Anthony and James, and five sisters; Mary, Carmella, Katherina, Theresa and Elizabeth. Her parents were Italians who emigrated to the United States from Lamezia Terme, Calabria. Grayco and her siblings were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Grayco's father owned a grocery store which went bankrupt during the Great Depression.

At age 4, Grayco began singing in Tacoma. When she was 8 years old, Grayco sang on The Carnival Hour, a variety show on radio station KHJ in Los Angeles. She was then hired to appear on a local variety program in Seattle, Washington. Bing Crosby and his brothers, who were, like Grayco, all natives of Tacoma, heard her on the program and reportedly Crosby said that "...she sings Hollywood!" Crosby gave her a job in Hollywood and soon her family moved to Los Angeles. She earned a salary of $75 a week.

In 1935, after her collaboration with Crosby ended, Grayco appeared in a non-speaking part in a scene with Allan Jones in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film A Night at the Opera starring the Marx Brothers. In 1938, Joe Pasternak of Universal Studios signed Grayco, then thirteen, to replace Deanna Durbin as Universal's leading child star. During her stay at Universal, she appeared in a small role in Durbin's film That Certain Age.

Before meeting Spike Jones, Grayco worked with the bands of Chuck Cascalas, Chuck Cabot and Red Nichols. Her big break came when she began travelling with Stan Kenton's band. She was attending high school at the time she went with Kenton on a cross-country bus tour. The tour took Grayco from Los Angeles to the Roseland Ballroom in New York City.

                              

Grayco first met bandleader Spike Jones in 1946 while she was performing at the Hollywood Palladium. After her performance he offered her a gig with him and his band, The City Slickers. Grayco also got a spot with Jones's Other Orchestra, which he formed in 1946. The group was known for its legitimately "pretty" music in contrast to the City Slickers, who were known for their crazy way of performing. 

The one outstanding recording by the Other Orchestra is "Laura", which features a serious first half (played exquisitely by the Other Orchestra) and a manic second half (played hilariously by the City Slickers). Even with the success of "Laura", the public preferred the crazy music of the Slickers to the elegant music of the Other Orchestra. The Other Orchestra broke up in 1947, only a year after its founding.

She appeared with Jones and his City Slickers on The Colgate Comedy Hour and The Red Skelton Show. She also starred with Jones and his band on a series of television shows between 1954 and 1961 on NBC and CBS known as The Spike Jones Show  and Club Oasis. Grayco released her first single in 1949. 

Her two most memorable albums were After Midnight in 1957 and The Lady in Red in 1958. The latter was the last album she ever released. In 1961, Grayco was the spokesperson for Kahlúa coffee liqueur. Her activities included a 13-week tour promoting the product. Her last public appearance was in 1968 on an episode of The Dean Martin Show.

Grayco continued to sing in various venues. After the death of Spike Jones in 1965, she married Bill Rosen, who owned a restaurant named Gatsby's in New York City. She moved to New York with him and later moved back to Los Angeles with him when he opened a restaurant called Gatsby's in L.A. Rosen died in 2002.

During 1976 Grayco came out of retirement to record “If That How Nature made Him” for United Artists. It was a song about a gay man, which was surprisingly progressive for its time. The record did not chart on Billboard or Cashbox, but when it was re-issued on a different label it did in December 1977, made it to #90.

Helen with Spike Jones Jr.

As of 2021, Helen is still alive at the age of 97.

(Edited from Wikipedia)