Born into a well-known Australian show business family, Helen has been performing professionally since a very early age. After performing throughout her native homeland and appearing as a regular on several television shows, Helen entered a singing contest in 1966. The winner was promised a trip to New York and an audition with an American record company. Helen competed against 1,357 other contestants, won first place, and departed shortly thereafter for New York City. However, she was sloughed off without the promised audition by record company executives who had been anticipating a male group.

Despite this, Helen and her young daughter remained in the United States. After five frustrating years of singing, Helen signed up with Capitol Records. The first track she cut was her first chart hit, "I Don't Know How To Love Him"; but, it was a song she penned, "I Am Woman," that was to become Helen's first #1 Hit Song. Helen won a Grammy award for the song, which was to become the anthem for the feminist movement. More top ten material followed and records like "Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)," "

Angie Baby," "Delta Dawn," and "You and Me Against the World" on gold and platinum selling albums led to Helen's international multi-media career.

Helen has performed live on six continents in such places as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Royal Albert Hall and the Palladium in London and the Opera House in Sydney, Australia. Her Television Specials have been seen in over forty countries and Disney's release of her 1977 film, "Pete's Dragon" on video cassette has attracted a whole new generation of fans.

In recent years Helen has returned to her theatrical roots, playing the roses of Reno Sweeney in Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" and Mrs. Sally Adams in Irving Berlin's "Call Me Madam," as well as the title role in "The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Active in community affairs, Helen served for three years as the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the State of California. For the past few years, Helen has been lecturing around the country on various topics from women's issues to genealogy. Of the many honors she has received, Helen most enjoys the tulip named for her in Holland and grows the reddish-violet bulbs in her California garden. She resides in Santa Monica with her husband, Milton Ruth, and a large dog.