Helvetia "Vet" Boswell

The Boswell Sisters
From left: "Vet", Connie and Martha in 1931
Background information
Born	Martha: (1905-06-09)June 9, 1905 Connee: (1907-12-03)December 3, 1907 Helvetia: (1911-05-20)May 20, 1911
Origin	New Orleans, United States
Died	Martha: July 2, 1958(1958-07-02) (aged 53) Connee: October 11, 1976(1976-10-11) (aged 68) Helvetia: November 12, 1988(1988-11-12) (aged 77)
Genres	Vocal jazz
Years active	1925–1936
Labels	Victor, Okeh, Brunswick, Decca
Website	http://www.bozzies.com/
Past members	Martha Boswell Connee Boswell Helvetia Boswell

The Boswell Sisters were a close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters Martha Boswell Lloyd (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connee Boswell (original name Connie, December 3, 1907 – October 11, 1976), and Helvetia "Vet" Boswell (May 20, 1911 – November 12, 1988), noted for intricate harmonies and rhythmic experimentation. They attained national prominence in the United States in the 1930s.

The sisters were raised in a middle-class family at 3937 Camp Street in uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. Martha and Connie were born in Kansas City, Missouri. Helvetia was born in Birmingham, Alabama. (Connee's name was originally spelled Connie until she changed it in the 1940s.) Born to a former vaudevillian, Clyde “A. C.” Boswell, and his music-loving wife, Meldania, the sisters—along with their 14-year-old brother Clyde Jr. ("Clydie")—landed in New Orleans as children, in 1914. Martha, Connie, and Vet studied classical piano, cello, and violin, respectively, under the tutelage of Tulane University professor Otto Finck. They performed their classical repertoire in local recitals, often as a trio, but the city’s jazz scene swiftly won them over, personally and professionally. “We studied classical music . . . and were being prepared for the stage and a concert tour throughout the United States, but the saxophone got us,” Martha said in a 1925 interview with the Shreveport Times.

In addition to providing the young Boswells with formal, classical musical education, Meldania Boswell took her children regularly to see the leading African-American performers of the day at the Lyric Theatre. There, young Connie heard Mamie Smith, whose "Crazy Blues" (1920), the first blues record performed by an African American, was a hit. Connie would later imitate Smith's style on the Boswells' first record, "I'm Gonna Cry (Cryin' Blues)," before settling into her own vocal style. In interviews, the sisters recalled driving around New Orleans listening for new and interesting sounds, which they often found outside African-American churches and barrooms.