Helen Jepson(1904-1997)

Although they were both white, she and baritone Lawrence Tibbett sang several arias in the first recordings ever made of music from George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess". Although the music was conducted by Alexander Smallens, these were the only recordings of the "Porgy and Bess" music ever made with Gershwin himself supervising. He died in 1937, at the age of only 38, never even living to supervise the so-called "original cast recording" (made in 1940), with Todd Duncan, Anne Brown, and several other members of original Broadway cast of the opera.