HELEN HENDERSON: Bio

Quoted in the Los Angeles Times on January 2003 and called a "Kiwi Siren."

Helen Henderson singer/songwriter from New Zealand is based in Los Angeles.

Helen sings and writes about the south... the South Pacific, that is. The music is a pleasing clash of cultures. A seasoned West Coast band of guitar pickers, haunting ballads and raunchy rock songs sung by a grassroots girl from "Down Under".

One review described described her as "a less world-weary Lucinda Williams and a more rootsy Shania Twain. . . Henderson matches her powerful backing with confident originals and a convincing mid-American voice."

But in spite of the western trappings, it's the folk demons of her Southland childhood that she returns to in "The Ballad of Minnie Dean," the appropriately dirge-like tale of a woman done wrong and a woman done wrong by in the late 1890's in Invercargill, New Zealand, Helen's hometown.

"The Ballad of Minnie Dean," Helen's video directed by Rose Bauer and shot on 35mm, won the "Golden Lion Award" at the North West Alabama Film Festival in April 2003 and is featured on her CD "The Sonora Sessions" LA 2000.

Descended from the Lindsays, an illustrious Southland New Zealand musical clan, Helen developed her writing and performing in London, Nashville and Los Angeles.

Folksy, yeah. Country, yeah. And a lot rock-and-roll with a twang. Henderson and this current band first played L.A. over three years ago. In June 2002 she opened for Rod Stewart and Simple Minds at an outdoor festival in Austria.

Helen and her music are here to stay. Music belongs to the people. It always has, especially roots music. It offers up the truth, the myths, the legends... it is universal. Helen's songs are like that. She writes real songs about real people.

Helen plays almost weekly on Sunset Strip and all over Hollywood and Los Angeles.

Check out her website for listings, go see her play and make sure you say "Gidday" she loves to meet all kinds of people from all kinds of places who share a love for music.

www.helenhenderson.net
HendersonMusic@aol.com
Phone: 310-285-8138