Helene Blue
President of Helene Blue Musique Ltd., a company she founded fifteen years ago, Helene is currently representing some veteran composers: Rod McKuen, Ned Washington, Oscar Peterson, Illinois Jacquet, Stan Getz, Paul Winter, Harold Rome, Link Wray/Milton Grant, Maxine Brown, Louis Bellson, Chico O'Farrill, The King's Singers, The Scorpions, UFO, Hy Zaret, Jim Wann, Woody Harris, Paul Hampton, Terry Radigan and Ira Antelis; emerging composers: Laurence Elder, Barry Ennis, Dan Craig, Michael Gurley, and Parker Dulany.
Helene's career began at London Records, one of the strongest independent labels in the United States and the American arm of worldwide Decca Record Co., Ltd. She worked with many great artists, from the Rolling Stones and Van Morrison to Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. After several years she moved into the publishing arena, first at European American Music, representing the catalogs of Schott and Universal Edition, followed by her tenure at Belwin Mills Publishing Corp., which represented the catalogs of Duke Ellington, Leroy Anderson, Mitchell Parish, Fats Waller, and Jimmy McHugh, among others. She then became Managing Director of the Arc Music Group catalogs, representing such songwriters as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Benny Goodman, Charlie Christian, Mel Powell and Willie Dixon.
When she got a call from MPL Music Publishing, Inc., Paul McCartney's publishing company, to become their first worldwide General Manager, she couldn't refuse and so added one of the great independent pop music catalogs to the list of publishing companies she has headed. Her publishing and performing experience paid off while exploiting the songs of McCartney, Buddy Holly, Jerry Herman, Charles Strouse, Frank Loesser, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen, Jack Lawrence, Bessie Smith and Jelly Roll Morton, among other 20th century greats.
In addition to her work as a music publisher, Helene is active on the Boards of Directors of the National Music Publishers' Association (where she has served 16 years), The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. as past-President and Honorary Trustee, the New York Chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers, Merkin Concert Hall Participating Board and the ASCAP Board of Review. In December, 1998, AIMP presented Helene with their inaugural "Indie" Award, recognizing her achievements as an independent publisher. In March, 1999, Women In Music presented Helene with their Touchstone Award for Distinguished Service to the Music Industry.
