Alma Cogan

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Alma Cogan
Background information
Birth name Alma Angela Cohen
Born May 19, 1932, Stepney, London, England
Died October 26, 1966
Genre(s) Traditional pop
Years active 1952-1966
Label(s) HMV, EMI Columbia
Website Alma Cogan International Fan Club

Alma Angela Cohen, known as Alma Cogan (May 19, 1932 - October 26, 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop music.

Contents

[edit] Life and career

She was born Alma Angela Cohen of East European Jewish parentage, in Stepney, in the East End of London, getting her first name because her mother liked the motion picture actress Alma Taylor. While she was still a young child, her family moved to Worthing, Sussex. She later went to school in Reading, Berkshire. Her mother encouraged her to enter show business, and she auditioned for Ted Heath as a child. But her real patron was an executive of HMV Records, Walter Ridley, who saw her potential as a teenage art school student.

As a teenager, she had her professional debut singing at the Cumberland Hotel, in the dining room. Her first record was a 78rpm record of "To Be Worthy Of You" / "Would You" on the British HMV label. When Joy Nichols left the BBC programme "Take It from Here," Alma replaced her as the resident singer, performing many types of songs but, most successfully, up-beat ballads and novelty songs. In 1953 she was working on the song "If I Had A Golden Umbrella" and broke into a giggle while recording it. The people decided that they liked the sound, and that sound became her trademark style. In 1954 she had her first chart hit, a cover of Teresa Brewer's "Bell Bottom Blues."

She had many UK chart hits, some of which were covers of US hits, including some Rock and Roll-flavoured ones as the 50s progressed. Her first recordings for EMI were produced by Walter "Wally" Ridley and then later by Norman Newell, with whom she had some disagreement. In 1965 EMI Records decided that they would not renew her contract with the company and requested that their newly hired young producer, David Gooch, produce an album of material which would bring the association to a conclusion. Miss Cogan had wanted to make an entire album of Beatles' material but EMI felt that was unsuitable since there were a number of other similar recordings available at the time. With orchestrations by Stan Foster, the songs comprising the album were recorded in Studio 1 at the Abbey Road Studios of EMI Records, and contrary to written reports, neither John Lennon nor Paul McCartney attended the sessions. One of these in fact was recorded without the presence of the singer because she was unwell; the Musicians' Union gave permission for the backing tracks to be recorded to which she later added her voice. Although some sources cite Andrew Loog Oldham as the producer of the singles which appear on the subsequent album "Alma", this is incorrect. The producer of the singles and of the album itself was David Gooch who, in the fashion of the time, was uncredited. It is thought that during Miss Cogan's lifetime Oldham may have re-mixed one or more tracks, but contrary to popular belief, those were not released.

Alma Cogan died of leukemia when she was only 34.

Alma Cogan is also the title of a Whitbread Book Award-winning novel by Gordon Burn published in 1991.

[edit] Recordings

[edit] Singles

[edit] Albums

[edit] External references

[edit] Biography

  • Alma Cogan: A Memoir by Her Sister Sandra Caron, Bloomsbury Publishing, Ltd, 1991 [London]
  • "Alma Cogan: The Girl With The Laugh In Her Voice" by Sandra Caron (Alma's sister) [ISBN 0-7475-0984-0]
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