Alma Cogan - UK Chart Decline and International Success

UK Chart Decline and International Success

Cogan's final single release of the 1950s was her cover of Bobby Rydell's US hit "We Got Love" which entered the UK Top 30 in December 1959: its #26 peak on the chart for 2 January 1960 would prove to be her highest charting for the incoming decade.

After the follow-up "Dream Talk" peaked at #48 Cogan had her last Top 30 hit with the Paul Anka penned "Train of Love" (#27) which had been a US Top 40 hit for Annette.

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).

Cogan's next single "Just Couldn't Resist Her With Her Pocket Transistor" fell short of the UK Top 50 but found a receptive audience in Japan, the "pocketable" radio being the 1957 Japanese invention which as Sony's inaugural import to North America had generated Japan's rise as a global electronics giant. Reportedly Cogan's single topped the Japanese charts for ten months to a year – the first indication of the 1960s trend that would see Cogan's recordings scoring well internationally while being overlooked in the UK. Cogan returned to the Japanese Top Ten in the spring of 1961 via a release of "Train of Love" and that December "Just Couldn't Resist Her With Her Pocket Transistor" gave Cogan a #3 hit in India where her cover of "She's Got You" would reach the Top Ten in June 1962.

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. In contrast Cogan would have her final UK chart showing with her Columbia debut: "Cowboy Jimmy Joe". The track was an English version of the German hit "Die Sterne Der Prärie" by Lolita, whose "Sailor" had recently been rendered in English by Cogan's fellow '50s vocalistes Anne Shelton – a formative influence and friend of Cogan's – and Petula Clark with both versions reaching the UK Top Ten, Clark's version being her first ever #1. However, "Cowboy Jimmy Joe" would punctuate Cogan's UK chart career with a mild #37 showing.

Similar to Petula Clark, Cogan was a 1950s pop vocalist whose talent could be showcased by the music of the subsequent decade: that Cogan failed to register on the UK charts later than 1961 is attributable to the "party girl" image that had originally boosted her career coming across in the 1960s as "square", an opinion expressed by Lionel Blair the 1991 BBC documentary Alma Cogan: The Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice.

Cogan's friend singer, Eddie Grassham, told the BBC, that Cogan was especially disappointed that her 1963 cover of The Exciters' US hit "Tell Him" did not return her to the UK charts, while a rival cover by teenage mod Billie Davis would reach #10 ("Tell Him" gave Cogan her sole charting in France at #53 – the Exciters' version was a French #1).

After having only one long playing released in the 1950s, Cogan had one album released in both 1961 and 1962 entitled respectively With You in Mind and How About Love? which like the 1958 album I Love to Sing showcased Cogan with more substantial material than did her body of singles. How About Love? was picked up for US release by Vee-Jay Records but internal problems caused that label to temporarily suspend operations in 1963 and How About Love? was one of the releases consequently canceled.

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". The latter track, conducted by Kathy Kirby's musical director Charles Blackwell, also reached the Top Twenty in Denmark in the summer of 1964 and would spend three months in the Top Twenty in Germany with a #9 peak in January 1965. Cogan returned to the German Top 20 that May when her reworking of "Home on the Range" entitled "Hillbilly Boy" reached #19. 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.

Beginning with "Tell Him", Cogan courted international success by recording up to seven versions of some tracks in different languages including German and Japanese. She also traveled extensively in the mid 1960s making personal appearances and appearing on television in Australia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Spain and Japan.