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Biography
Alma was born into a Jewish family in Golders Green, London, on May 19th 1932. "She must have been the first English Jewish star," reckons Maureen Lipman, a life long admirer. Brought up on jazz music - her father sang and one uncle was a band leader - Alma began singing at tea dances in London with the Ted Heath band, aged only 11. But her big break came at 14, at The Grand theatre in Brighton where she'd been recommended by Vera Lynn. "Alma was very outgoing and jolly," recalls Dame Vera. "Once the Fifties came in, the music changed, There were very few songs at the time I found I could sing, but a s far as Alma was concerned there were loads of songs which suited her."
Alma's first recording was To Be Worthy Of You, which won the admiration of DJ Jack Jackson who helped her get into radio. She went on to star in the radio shows Gently Bentley, The Glums and Take It From Here which was written by Dennis Norden. "In those days, stars were made from radio," Dennis explains. "There are no television stars today who are as big as radio stars were then. We discovered her for Take It From Here, but she would have burst forth anyway".
Alma's recording career really took off with her first big hit Bell Bottom Blues which sold more than 100,000 copies. She was to have more hit records - 18 on the UK alone - more than any other female singer in the 50's. "You couldn't mistake her voice, because of this sort of light-hearted giggle that she had," says Vera Lynn. "Whenever you heard it you knew immediately, Oh, that's Alma Cogan".
Indeed, the trademark inflexion in Alma's singing earned her the nickname, The Girl With The Laugh In Her Voice.
Alma became the first British female singer to have her own television series. A highlight of her stage and television appearances was her flamboyant dress sense. "My first impression of her was definitely frocks," remembers Cliff Richard. "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!"
Lonnie Donegan was equally impressed. "Whenever we were playing in the variety theatres in those days, almost invariably the set would still be up from the week before. There would be some elaborate lighting with plastic chandeliers hanging down. When the auditorium was full of people we'd look up and say, 'Oh, Alma Cogan was here last week….she's left her earrings!' That was our big standard laugh on Alma."
Alma was immensely popular, not just with fans all around the world, but with her fellow artistes. Her close friends included Danny Kaye, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Hope and Sammy Davis Junior. "She was universally loved," says Lionel Blair. "I don’t know anybody that said, 'Oh, I couldn't stand Alma Cogan', and that's something to say about a person."
David Jacobs couldn't agree more. "She was a great worker for charity," he recalls, "and I don’t think I ever met anybody who laughed so much - I think she really lived for laughter".
Alma, whose father died in 1952, shared a flat in Kensington High Street with her sister, Sandra, and their mother, Fay. It became the venue for the trendiest showbiz parties. "Everybody would be there," says Lionel Blair. "Tommy Steele would be playing cards with her mother. The Beatles would pop up and Noel Coward too". Paul McCartney famously wrote the first draft of Yesterday at Alma's flat, and she became the first woman to record it. "Alma recorded six Beatles songs," says her sister Sandra, an actress. "John and Paul thought Alma's versions were so good that they actually played in the orchestra on one of the tracks,"
Alma's only known boyfriend was nightclub boss Brian Morris to whom she became unofficially engaged in 1965. But Lonnie Donegan remembers how strong the competition to win her love was. "A lot of eligible males were very attracted to her. She told me Cary Grant proposed to her, and she said 'I don’t know what to do, Lonnie.' I said 'Well, love, if you have to ask the answer's got to be no.' She didn't accept, so I suppose she must have listened to me!" Jack Douglas, the actor best known from the Carry On films, was a close friend and has his own theory about why Alma never settled down for good. "I think that somehow she knew she was never going to see old age. You would think, why hasn’t Alma married or settle down? Now I know the answer to that, but I didn't at the time". "I think the hardest thing for Alma was to go to bed. When she had a party, she just kept it going. It was just as though she didn’t want any of that fun and laughter to end."
In 1966, Alma was diagnosed with stomach cancer. "Nobody realised she was as gravely ill as she was," says Dennis Norden. Three weeks after being admitted to London's Middlesex Hospital, Alma died. She was only 34.
"I don't think, in my lifetime, I have ever stood at a graveside and seen so may men crying their eyes out," says Jack Douglas.
Lionel Blair remembers, "We all said, 'Why Alma, who was loved and loved everybody?' You just couldn’t believe it. I haven't met a lady who's company has given me so much pleasure - that could give me joy - ever since Alma. She was so special. I feel sorry for the people who didn't know her, that's all I can say."
SANDRA CARON is Alma Cogan's sister. Her biography of Alma's life Alma - A Memoir was published in 1991. |
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