Helen Shapiro was brought up in a traditional Jewish family in the heart of a large Jewish community in Hackney in the east end of London. Although the family were not overly orthodox their Jewish identity was strong and the family environment was warm which included lots of music being played, enjoying great celebrations and feasts like Passover plus many rituals such as the lighting of candles on a Friday evening to welcome the Sabbath. From early childhood Helen took for granted the existence of God, she loved the Bible stories which she learnt in R.E. in her local state school but because it was a predominantly Jewish school they were never taught the New Testament.
One day in the playground a girl came up to her and blurted out angrily "you killed Jesus Christ" Helen was very upset at the accusation knowing for sure she had never killed anyone and hadn’t the foggiest idea who Jesus Christ was. Aged 14 and still at school Helen had her first hit record, so into show business she went, travelling the world, singing at many famous venues and having a number of hit singles including the well known "walking back to happiness". She became quite carried away with the fame, meeting royalty and famous stars, she had little time for anything spiritual but had thankfully avoided getting involved in the drugs scene which had grown throughout the 1960's .
It was the hippie era when so many were looking to mysticism and cults in order to find the meaning of life and Helen began to search also. She began visiting mediums and clairvoyants with family members to try and contact dead relatives, having always been fascinated with life after death issues. She began reading books about spiritualism, Buddhism and all kinds of psychic phenomena and developed a wide range of new age thinking, even though in her own mind she still believed in God. For many years these filled the void in her life. At the age of 40 she woke up one morning and found that she could no longer relate to her 'new age ideas', the supernatural vanished overnight and no matter how hard she tried they would not come back. For the first time in her life she had nothing to believe in and because she had equated these ideas with God she even questioned if God actually existed. Helen's Jazz and pop career was going well, she was in a relationship with the man she was to marry, she was successful but feeling empty inside.
A man named Bob Cranham was Helen's musical director and was a Christian and often spoke about the great things the Lord had done in his life but Helen could not entertain the idea of the Gentile God, she was Jewish after all. One day she popped by Bobs house and out of the blue he told her that he was planning to give up the music business to become a preacher, because he believed that God was calling him. Helen thought the idea of God speaking was crazy and yet she wondered what it was that made a professional, sane, sensible top quality composer, musician and producer want to surrender that security and success for the Lord. He was so calm sure and willing that she envied him, she felt that he had something of value. Bob and his wife had no idea of her inner struggle but Helen had begun to think of Jesus constantly and could not get him off her mind till one night she asked Jesus to make himself known to her. Nothing happened in the room that night but in the coming weeks Helen kept bumping into things and people connected with Jesus.
After returning from a concert in Germany Bob handed her a book entitled "Betrayed" by Stan Telchin a Jewish businessman, on the cover it read "How would you feel as a successful 50 year old Jewish business man if your daughter one day told you she believed in Jesus"? Helen read the book with anticipation and learned of the scores of written predictions about the coming of the Messiah Jesus and the very specific details of his life and the countless links between the Old and New Testament. Helen was fascinated and went out to W.H. Smiths and bought herself a bible. It was with some trepidation that she opened up the New Testament, she expected anti Semitism and to find the disciples to be English but was confronted with a very Jewish story and no hatred toward the Jews at all. When she compared the old testament with the Jewish Tenach she was relieved to find them exactly the same and the more she read the new testament the more she realised how Jesus fitted perfectly, like a jig saw puzzle into the Jewish story of her childhood.
Helen phoned Bob to tell him that she was on the verge of becoming a Christian but wanted to ask some questions. She believed that Jesus died on the cross for humankind but needed to understand why and how she stood with her old 'new age' beliefs. Bob explained about human sin and the Old Testament system of sacrifice and how it fitted in with the crucifixion and about the occult practices that were forbidden in Deuteronomy. She learnt that she was a sinner like us all. Bob explained that she needed to repent of her sins in prayer and give her life to Jesus. Helen did this on August 26th 1987 at 10.30pm. It felt real and true. She was transformed because she knew that she no longer stood condemned under the law of Moses but liberated in love under Grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
SOME THOUGHTS Helen Shapiro despite being a household name enjoying fame and a varied and interesting life could not fill the void that existed in the centre of her being. She tried many new age ideas in the quest for fulfillment but something was always missing. We all try to gain satisfaction through our various endeavors but for many that elusive something is never found. Helen found that satisfaction in Jesus Christ. She had learned of the foretelling of Jesus in great detail centuries before he was born and of the bigger Jewish story that included him. We too have our own story which can include him. The peace that Helen found can be enjoyed by us all.