Helen Rogers

Helen began singing with reggae label One Stop Music in 1981, working with musicians who evolved into the band Natural Touch…

She then became lead vocalist with Direct Drive alongside the likes of Paul Hardcastle, going on to achieve No.1 status in the Black Echoes Soul Charts with the track ‘Anything’. The band got signed to Polydor Records and the track eventually crossed over to the UK National chart.

Helen subsequently made many recordings with fellow reggae artist Black Steel, including the Jamaican hit ‘Tracks of My Tears’, a cover of the Smokey Robinson classic. She continued to work with Pete Quinton of Direct Drive, singing on his songs ‘Shifting Sands & Half Chances’, which featured in the movie Sammy And Rosie Get Laid.

Throughout the 1990’s and into the 2000’s Helen became known as the voice of The Jazzmasters, Hardcastle’s award winning project. She co-wrote with Paul and provided lead and backing vocals for five Jazzmasters albums, as well as many tracks on Paul’s eponymous solo project.

In 2008 Helen released an EP of original songs called ‘Eyes Like Midnight‘ and a year later collaborated with bass player Fil Jones resulting in the song ‘Luxury Of Time’ which hit the No.1 spot on CD Baby’s Jazz, Jazz Funk & Urban charts.

Direct Drive reformed a few years ago and released the original and remixed versions of their club hit ‘Pass The Paper’. This was followed by a brand new song called ‘Latin Satin’ which got the attention of soul music fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Since her impressive afternoon performance at Summer Soulstice 2012, as well as touring, Helen released a solo album (2015) called ‘Smooth Jazz Meets Reggae’ on US independent label Skinny Bwoy and which included the single ‘In The Light’.