James D. Helms (born September 27, 1941) is an American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

singer, known as a member of

Londonbeat Londonbeat is a British dance-pop band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s. Band members are American Jimmy Helms (who also had a successful solo career and sang radio jingles for Radio Hallam and Hereward Radio in ...

but who also had solo hits such as "

Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse "Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse" is a song written in 1973 by John Worth, a pseudonym used by John Worsley (also known as Les Vandyke). It was originally sung by the American soul singer Jimmy Helms, and the track was arranged by Mi ...

Early years

James D. Helms was born in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

, United States. His grandfather was a

Black Seminole The Black Seminoles, or Afro-Seminoles are Native American-Africans associated with the Seminole people in Florida and Oklahoma. They are mostly blood descendants of the Seminole people, free Africans, and escaped slaves, who allied with Semino ...

and a preacher. Helms discovered music when his aunt gave the family a radio, and went on to play trumpet in the school band. After high school he moved to

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

. He released his first single, “Daddy! Daddy!” on Forest Records in 1962. He played with the Carl Sally band and moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, where he worked as a session guitarist. He joined the US Army and played trumpet in the Fort Jackson Army Band. After 1970, Helms began to spend more time pursuing a music career in the UK. He released a number of singles on labels such as Cube, Capitol, Philips, and Pye. None of these releases made much of an impact but they helped to keep Helms in the spotlight.

Music career

In Boston in 1970, Helms appeared in the Broadway musical '' Hair'', in which he played the character Hud. Reviewing his performance, ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

'' noted: "He projects a personality that is vital." Helms signed to the UK’s Fly Records in 1972, and released "So Long Love" on its Cube Records subsidiary. However, he is best known for his No. 8 UK

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, "

" in 1973. Later releases such as "I'll Take Good Care of You" and "Jack Horner's Holiday" did not repeat the commercial success. "Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse" was written and

produced Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

by John Worth. Helms sang

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 origi ...

and Don Black's title song for the 1974 adventure film ''

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

,'' starring

Roger Moore Sir Roger George Moore (14 October 192723 May 2017) was an English actor. He was the third actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond in the Eon Productions film series, playing the character in seven feature films between 1 ...

. In 1974 he worked on

Roger Glover Roger David Glover (born 30 November 1945) is a Welsh bassist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the member of the hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. As a member of Deep Purple, Glover was inducted into the Rock and R ...

's concept album ''

The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast ''The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast'' is a concept album and subsequent live rock opera appearing in 1974 and 1975 respectively, based on the children's poem of a similar title. The album cover design is from Alan Aldridge's desig ...

'', performing "Waiting." The album also featured

Ronnie James Dio Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted and founded numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and ...

Glenn Hughes Glenn Hughes or Glen Hughes may refer to: *Glenn Hughes (musician), born 1951 *Glenn Hughes (American singer) (1950–2001) *Glenn Hughes (cricketer), born 1959 *Glen Hughes Glen Hughes is an Australian former professional rugby league footbal ...

David Coverdale David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after ...

, Tony Ashton and John Lawton. In 1976, Helms performed on two songs for Eddie Hardin's ''Wizard's Convention'' album ("Loose Ends" and "She's a Woman.") Helms released a single and

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

for the film '' Black Joy'' with producer Biddu in 1977.

1980s and 1990s

Helms worked on the soundtrack of the 1985 movie ''

Water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

'', and performed some songs on the album release of the 1980s stage musical ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

''. He worked as a session musician with Topper Headon,

Deacon Blue Deacon Blue are a Scottish pop rock band formed in Glasgow during 1985. The line-up of the band consists of vocalists Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh, keyboard player James Prime and drummer Dougie Vipond. The band released their debut al ...

Madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

, and other groups in this period. Helms was often heard singing

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or witho ...

on many radio jingles on Independent Local Radio

stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. His voice was particularly prominent on the Alfasound produced ident packages for Pennine Radio,

Radio Hallam Hallam FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 283,000 ...

and the Yorkshire Radio Network. Helms also voiced/sang the part of the Cilician pirate Isoricus on the track 'Trust Me', on Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of Spartacus released in 1992.

Londonbeat

In 1988 Helms, along with band members George Chandler (ex-

The Olympic Runners The Olympic Runners were a 1970s British funk band, put together by record producer Mike Vernon who also played percussion, and fronted by singer George Chandler. They also included multi-instrumentalist Pete Wingfield, and had a number of hi ...

), Jimmy Chambers, and William Henshall formed the band,

. The band reached initial success in the

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, but quickly found a broader audience. The group's hits include "

I've Been Thinking About You "I've Been Thinking About You" is a song by British-American band Londonbeat from their second studio album, '' In the Blood'' (1990), produced by record producer Martyn Phillips. It was written by band members Jimmy Chambers, George Chandler, ...

", "

A Better Love "A Better Love" is a song by British-American dance-pop band Londonbeat, released on 12 November 1990 as the second single from the group's second studio album, '' In the Blood'' (1990). It was the follow-up to their international hit "I've Been ...

", and "9 A.M (The Comfort Zone)", all written by William Henshall. The song "I've Been Thinking About You", written by Helms, produced his highest-ever profile, reaching No. 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in September 1990, and No. 1 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Hot 100 in February 1991. It stayed on this chart for nearly five months. Londonbeat went on hiatus in 1995, but in 2003, it re-formed as New Londonbeat with a line-up consisting of Jimmy Helms, Jimmy Chambers, Myles Kayne and Marc Goldschmitz. Signed to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

Coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or ...

, they released an

called ''Back in the Hi-Life'', which featured re-recordings of "A Better Love", "I've Been Thinking About You", and with new tracks added.

Discography

Albums

* ''Jimmy Helms'' (Oracle Records, 1969) * ''Gonna Make You an Offer!'' (

Cube Records Cube Records was launched on 26 May 1972 by independent music publisher David Platz, and was based at his UK offices for Essex Music. History Platz had entered the arena of record production in the early 1960s, and having had a string of hit ...

, 1975) * ''Songs I Sing'' (

Pye Records Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brothe ...

, 1975)

Singles

References

External links

*
Official websiteYouTube siteJimmy Helms "Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse" from YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helms, Jimmy 1941 births Living people American soul musicians American male singer-songwriters American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Florida