Media Release

Mumbai, Aug 9: On the 6th of August, at Wellington Gymkhana, Santa Cruz West, Mumbai, Helen D'Cruz's fans, family and friends celebrated her 90th birthday with great excitement and joy.

Helen, who looked like the regal Katrina Queen at 90, was welcomed and cheered with much excitement and joy.

Helen was beaming as her eldest son shared memories of Helen as his singer mother who was so loving and caring, despite being very busy at work and at home.

Stanley D'Cruz, the brother of Helen's Late husband Venantius D'Cruz, shared with the audience her life journey and emerging singing career highlights from Africa to Mangaluru to Bombay, then Kuwait and back to Bombay (now Mumbai) where she lives.

There was such a rush to meet Helen and wish her on her birthday.

The band played and sang beautifully. When they played "Ye Ye Katrina", the crowd all started dancing and singing with excitement.

Helen is not just a singer, she is a writer, story teller and a social worker.

Helen Correa’s singing career started in Africa. Her family was living there, the father being a doctor. Music was in the family, father was a violinist, and the three brothers were also singers.

As Helen’s father passed away at a young age, the family moved back to Mangaluru, and after a few years then settled in Mumbai.

Helen studied Arts and Journalism and was working for a leading women’s magazine Eves Weekly. She also wrote film scripts. ‘The Mirror’ magazine published Helen’s short stories. Her series ‘Where is Sharron’ received rave reviews.

Helen met Venantius D'Cruz, her future husband, in 1962. They got married during the International Eucharistic Congress in Bombay in December 1964. They were one of the 26 couples or so whose nuptials were blessed by a cardinal, thus fulfilling her dream, of being married by a cardinal.

Helen honed up her singing in Bombay. She was a keen singer for numerous family occasions. Her singing was melodious and mellifluous.

Helen was the first female Mangalorean Konkani singer to be auditioned by All India Radio and was successful in the very first attempt. Due to this success other male Konkani singers were eager to sing with Helen. Some of these were Alphonso D'Costa, Jerome D'Souza, Henry D'Souza and Henry Moraes.

Around 1971, Helen recorded her first duet "Ye Ye Katrina". This song became extremely popular across the world. Due to popular requests this song was played by All India Radio daily for over four years, which is indeed a record.

Helen made her first 'His Masters Voice HMV' LP record around the same time, which was again successful and popular. Sometime after that first record, she also produced another Konkani record with famous Bollywood singer Hemant Kumar. A Bengali singing the Konkani song "Juliana" became a super hit.

Other popular songs were "Molbar Chandrem", "Daryacha Larani", "Kalzanth Ullas Borla", "Garaso Divo", "Sanjecha Velar" and more.

Helen left for Kuwait in 1973 along with her three children Colin, Yvonne and Fiona Lorraine to join her husband Venantius. Helen was blessed with their fourth child Marianne while in Kuwait.

Helen had a hectic life with a growing family and work. She worked for a renowned Kuwait bank. In spite of this she made it a point to sing in the Mangalorean community events, including stage productions. She also produced a CD "Tara Ani Lara."

The family moved back to Mumbai after the Gulf War in 1992. Helen's beloved husband Venantius went to his eternal abode in 2000.

Helen has passed on the singing genes to her family. Daughter Fiona Lorraine and her husband Aubrey Aloysius have co-founded the esteemed "lorrainemusicacademy.com" in Gurugram, Delhi NCR for 18 years. The Academy has been training thousands of students, young and old, from across 5 continents. They also conduct large scale concerts that are broadcast over various television channels and on All India Radio. Younger daughter Marianne and husband Rohan Aiman has founded "The Singing Express" to train budding singers. She has sung solos for several Bollywood films working with top directors. Grand daughter Sarah teaches music to specially-abled children which is a very worthy cause.

The Mangalorean community, through Sandesha Academy, presented her an award for her legendary contribution to Konkani singing in February 2020.

Helen’s singing journey from Africa - Bombay - Mumbai - Kuwait - Mumbai for over seven decades has been simply astonishing. She will always remain as the legendary Mangalorean female singer.

Cheers to Helen on her 90th birthday year!