Profile
Alma Cogan
Singer + Voice + Entertainer
Female
Born
May 19, 1932
Hometown
Whitechapel
Died
Oct 26, 1966
Death Place
London
Alma Cogan was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. Throughout the mid-1950s, she was the… Read More
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Alma Cogan.
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Tyrannosaur, The Guard Amongt Dinard Competition Titles Screen InternationalGoogle News - Aug 23, 2011
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Norwich Fashion Week Made My Dreams Come True Norwich Evening NewsGoogle News - Aug 15, 2011
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Fred West: A Glimpse Of Extreme Evil The GuardianGoogle News - Jul 31, 2011
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Kathy Kirby Fondly Remembered Stoke & StaffordshireGoogle News - Jul 09, 2011
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Alma Cogan.
CHILDHOOD
1932
Birth
Born on May 19, 1932.
TEENAGE
1948
16 Years Old
Proceeding to Worthing Art College, Cogan continued singing in London venues including Selby's Restaurant and the Café Anglais. Cogan was a member of the chorus the production of High Button Shoes at the Hippodrome – the production opened in December 1948 – and Cogan was also featured in Sauce Tartare which opened in May 1949 at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End: Sauce Tartare was a revue starring Muriel Smith which also featured Audrey Hepburn, Renée Houston and Bob Monkhouse.
1949
17 Years Old
In 1949, Cogan also became the resident singer at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, where her original six week booking was extended to eighteen months.
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TWENTIES
Cogan's first recording was "Red Silken Stockings" but as it was decided to give that song to her HMV label-mate entertainer Betty Driver, Cogan's first release was the 78 rpm record "To Be Worthy Of You" / "Would You" recorded on her twentieth birthday in 1952.
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Cogan, Anthony and Joan Regan all covered Rosemary Clooney's 1954 US #1 "This Ole House" – this time Anthony had the hit (she reached #4 despite being beaten by the Clooney original at #1).
1957
25 Years Old
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The skirts seemed to be so wide – I don't know where they hung them up!" When Cogan flew into New York City for a December 1957 engagement at the Persian Room customs inspectors impounded the sixteen ball gowns in her luggage, being skeptical that she could intend them all for her personal use during a short stay (the gowns were returned to Cogan in time for her opening).
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Cogan also reached #16 in 1958 with her version of "Sugartime" despite competition from the McGuire Sisters original and another cover by Jim Dale.
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Cogan was scheduled to participate in the national preliminary round for the UK in Eurovision 1959 singing "I'll Be With You": however the song was ultimately sung by Marion Keene.
1960
28 Years Old
The B-side of "Train of Love": "The 'I Love You' Bit", a duet with Oscar Nebish was, in fact, performed with Lionel Bart who was for a time considered Cogan's fiancé. Bart had written the musical Oliver! with Cogan in mind for the role of Nancy but as Cogan was reluctant to commit to the stage musical Oliver opened in the West End June 1960 with Georgia Brown in the Nancy role. (Cogan would contribute to a recording of the musical for EMI, produced by Norman Newell, released in 1965).
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In February 1961 Cogan's contract to record for the HMV Pop label expired; although she initially planned to depart the parent EMI Group its managing director Len Wood negotiated for Cogan to move to EMI's Columbia subsidiary, making her the labelmate of Helen Shapiro who would shortly be established as the new queen of the UK charts.
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THIRTIES
1963
31 Years Old
Cogan's international success continued as she reached #1 in Israel in April 1963 with "Fly Me to the Moon" and #1 in Sweden for eight weeks in the summer of 1964 with her rock and roll ballad re-invention of "Tennessee Waltz".
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Cogan was especially noted for her friendship with the Beatles, whom she met during rehearsals for Sunday Night at the London Palladium on 12 January 1964, John Lennon and Paul McCartney in particular being her frequent guests.
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Also in 1965 Cogan consolidated her stardom in Sweden where she returned to #1 for three weeks that summer with her cover – unreleased in the UK – of Jewel Akens' US hit "The Birds and the Bees", which gave Cogan a #8 hit in Denmark that autumn when it also hit the Top 5 in Norway.
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In early 1966 Cogan embarked on a series of club dates in the north of England: she collapsed after two performances suffering stomach pains and returned to London where she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_Cogan.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.