Alma Cogan - 1950s Star

1950s Star

"Bell Bottom Blues" was typical of Cogan's '50s single releases, her output comprising mostly lightweight numbers whose chart success was fairly arbitrary: she appeared on the UK Singles Chart eighteen times between 1954 and 1960 with the 1955 release "Dreamboat" reaching #1.

Cogan's second charting single had been a cover of Kitty Kallen's "Little Things Mean a Lot": Kallen's US #1 had been equally successful in UK release in the summer of 1954 but Cogan's version did reach #11. One of Cogan's earlier releases that year, "Little Shoemaker", had been a cover of The Gaylords' US #2 hit – it was a version by another UK songstress: Petula Clark, which had become the chart hit (Clark's first).

It was also in 1954 that Cogan recorded "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango", again a cover of a US chart hit – this one by Patti Page. Unusual for a UK cover, the original had only been a marginal US hit: "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango" was recommended to Cogan primarily as it was deemed a strong number for her and her version became the second of Cogan's four Top Ten hits the fourth one being the Tommie Connor composition "Never Do the Tango With an Eskimo" (#6, 1955).

Cogan also reached #16 in 1958 with her version of "Sugartime" despite competition from the McGuire Sisters original and another cover by Jim Dale. Her final Top 20 hit, "Sugartime" aroused an especial antipathy in future Beatle John Lennon, then a Liverpool art school student whose classmate Helen Anderson would recall "used to make horrible jokes against, impersonating her singing 'sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening, sugar at suppertime'. He'd pull crazy expressions on his face to try to imitate her expressions." Ironically Lennon and Cogan would later become friends and (according to Cogan's sister Sandra Caron) sometime lovers.

Cogan also faced chart competition for her chart singles "Willie Can" (#13/ 1956) – the Beverley Sisters' version reached #23 – and her version of Marty Robbins' "The Story of My Life" which was one of four to hit the UK charts in 1958 with Michael Holliday besting Cogan (#25) and also Dave King and Gary Miller by reaching #1.

Cogan did step outside the pop idiom with her cover of the Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (#22/ 1956) although her version was bested by the original which reached #1.

Cogan's recordings were originally produced by Walter Ridley and subsequently by Norman Newell.

Cogan was one of the first UK recording artists to recognize the promotional potential of the new medium of television; while other singers were dependent on the vagaries of the record charts Cogan's career was buoyed by frequent television appearances showcasing not only her vocal prowess but her bubbly personality. Typically Cogan wore hooped skirts heavy with sequins and figure-hugging tops; reputedly her dresses were all custom made to her own designs and never worn twice. Cliff Richard recalls: "My first impression of her was definitely frocks – I kept thinking, how many can this woman have? Almost every song had a different costume. 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). Cogan had made her first visit to New York City earlier that year making an April 14 appearance on the televised variety programme Toast of the Town with a resultant booking at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Some of Cogan's UK singles were given a concurrent US release by RCA Victor with no discernible result.

Cogan's first album was released in 1958: I Love to Sing, which featured Frank Cordell conducting the orchestra, was focussed more on traditional pop classics rather than the lightweight material typical of Cogan's single releases.

In December 1956 Cogan topped the annual NME reader's poll as "Outstanding British Female Singer". She finished top again in 1957 and 1958; after coming second to Shirley Bassey in 1959 Cogan again topped the poll in 1960 remaining a popular personality despite by then no longer being a major chart presence.

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.