Alma Cogan
Wikimp3 information about the music of Alma Cogan. On our website we have 70 albums and 70 collections of artist Alma Cogan. You can find useful information and download songs of this artist. We also know that Alma Cogan represents Pop genres.
Biography
[Edit]Alma Cogan was one of the most successful and tragic figures in English pop music of the '50s and early '60s. Her 18 chart hits were a record for a female singer at the end of the '50s in England, and despite being part of the pre-rock & roll era, Cogan seemed capable of working with the new music when her life was cut short.
The daughter of a haberdasher, Alma Cogan was born in St. John's Wood and educated at St. Joseph' Convent School. It was Cogan's mother who pushed her toward a career as a singer and onto the stage. In 1948, at age 16, she was spotted in the chorus of High Button Shoes by EMI staff producer Walter J. Ridley (also responsible, a decade later, for signing Johnny Kidd & the Pirates), who subsequently signed her to the HMV label. Around this same time, she began appearing with cabaret at the Cumberland Hotel. Cogan began her career doing ballads, but her first hit was a novelty tune called "Bell Bottom Blues" (not the Derek & the Dominoes song), which got to number five on the British charts in 1954. A year later, she topped the charts for the first and only time with "Dreamboat." She also covered several American hits, including "The Birds and the Bees" and "Why Do Fools Fall in Love," which was a hint of the range she would show in her later career. By the turn of the '50s into the '60s, she was also the star of her own television program, and she reached the apex of her success when Lionel Bart (whom, at one point, she apparently intended to marry) cast her as Nancy in Oliver! Her name receded from the pop charts somewhat in the early '60s, as younger performers such as Helen Shapiro joined the EMI roster, but Cogan was a fixture as a concert attraction during the first half of the decade.
During the '50s, Cogan attracted press attention as a personality beyond her singing, for her sense of humor and for her collection of luxurious clothes — it was said that she never wore the same dress twice — and her home was filled with an extraordinary array of fashions. By the mid-'60s, she was much more celebrated in the gossip columns for the all-night parties she threw at her Kensington High Street home, where guests included such diverse figures as Stanley Baker, Paul McCartney, Roger Moore, Noël Coward, Ethel Merman, and Lionel Bart, among many others. If she was no longer a chart-topping star, Cogan was still a much-loved figure to her peers, and remained in touch with the cutting edge of the popular music business, recording the music of Burt Bacharach when he was still getting established, and befriending McCartney, who must've loved making the acquaintance of EMI's biggest female pop star from the period in which he was growing up. McCartney contributed percussion to the B-side of one of her mid-'60s singles, which resulted in her covering "Eight Days a Week," as well as "Yesterday," "I Feel Fine," and "Ticket to Ride." There's no telling where that friendship might've led — Cogan could easily have been another, more mature Cilla Black, her voice serving as an outlet for McCartney songs that weren't suited to the Beatles. If her version of "Eight Days a Week" — a most startling re-thinking of the song, transforming it into a gloriously lyrical torch number — is any indication, she might've done wonderful, glorious things with "For No One," "Your Mother Should Know," and "When I'm Sixty-Four." Alas, it was not to be. Cogan had just proved capable of making the transition to a more rocking sound, or at least of embracing some components of the last few years of changes in music, when tragedy struck. In 1966, she was diagnosed with cancer. She received treatments and planned to continue her career, even writing several songs (under the name "Al Western") that were recorded by other singers. She kept working during the year, and an album was intended. Cogan continued concertizing, and while touring Sweden, she fainted. She was diagnosed as terminally ill, and died on October 26 of that year in a London hospital.
Her final album, Alma, was released early the following year, but Cogan was never entirely forgotten. Collections of her music have shown up throughout the CD era, including a complete triple-CD anthology (A-Z of Alma). In 1992, the BBC presented a television documentary about her life and career.
Collections
Title: The Greatest Easy Listening Album (CD1)
Genre: Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Pop
Title: NOW That’s What I Call Christmas 2015 (CD2)
Genre: Dancefloor, Disco, Pop, Dance Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: 50's No. 1's (CD3)
Genre: World Music, Country, Folk
Title: The Best Days Of Christmas (CD2)
Genre: Gospel, Vocal Jazz, Country
Title: Len Goodman's Ballroom Bonanza (CD3)
Genre: Jazz, Rock, World Music, Country, Folk
Title: NOW Thats What I Call Christmas 2016 (CD2)
Genre: Downtempo, Chill Out, Jazz, Instrumental, Instrumental
Title: No. 1 Hits Of The '50s (CD3)
Genre: Rock & Roll, Pop
Title: Retro Vintage Vocal Jazz 2016 (CD1)
Genre: Blues, Jazz, Classical, Smooth Jazz
Title: Retro Vintage Vocal Jazz 2016 (CD2)
Genre: Blues, Jazz, Classical, Smooth Jazz
Title: Retro Vintage Vocal Jazz 2016 (CD3)
Genre: Blues, Jazz, Classical, Smooth Jazz
Title: Classic Dinner Party 3CD (CD1)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Gospel, Jazz, World Music, Country, Pop, Acoustic, Folk
Title: Ready Steady Go, Vol. 28 Guitar Man (CD2)
Genre: Rock & Roll, Rockabilly
Title: Feel Good Music
Genre: Jazz, Crossover Jazz, Folk Rock, Glam Rock, Disco
Title: Let's Dance - Das Tanzalbum 2017 (CD2)
Genre: Dancefloor, Pop, Dance Pop
Title: 100 Greatest - Christmas 2017 (CD1)
Genre: Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Those Days Were Ours (CD2)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues, Jazz, Rock & Roll, Pop Rock
Title: Britpop 1958-62
Genre: Rock & Roll, Pop, Pop Rock
Title: American Vocal Standards 2018
Genre: Soul, Blues, Vocal Jazz, Pop
Title: The Greatest Movie Ballads (Soundtrack)
Genre: Soul, Pop, Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Italian Canzone - Golden Hits
Genre: World Music, Latin, Disco, Pop
Title: NOW Thats What I Call Easy 2018 (CD1)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Blues, Jazz, Rock, Punk Rock, Disco, Pop, Lounge, Easy Listening
Title: April In Paris Romantic Jazz & Easy Classics
Genre: Jazz
Title: British Hit Parade: The B Sides 2019 (CD1)
Genre: Blues, Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: British Hit Parade: The B Sides 2019 (CD3)
Genre: Blues, Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: British Hit Parade: The B Sides 2019 (CD4)
Genre: Blues, Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: UK Chart Pop Hits Of 1963
Genre: Vocal Jazz, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: Women In Love # 2
Title: Golden Oldies: Pop Girls
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Jazz, Pop
Title: Funiculi Funicula - Amore 2019 (CD2)
Genre: Jazz, Rock, Pop, Easy Listening
Title: Vintage Christmas 2019
Genre: Pop
Title: Oldies (Warner Music Group - X5 Music Group)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, World Music, Country, Folk, Easy Listening
Title: Jukebox Ballads 2020
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Gospel, Rock, World Music, Pop Rock, Classical, Folk
Title: Tell Him: Popcorn Brit Girls (1960-1962) (CD1)
Genre: Pop
Title: Italo Pop Golden Hits 2020 (CD1)
Genre: Pop
Title: Top 100 Christmas Songs 2020 (CD2)
Genre: Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: 60 Top Hits From The 60s (CD1)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Rock & Roll, Pop
Title: 60's UK Hits (CD2)
Title: Johnny B. Goode (40 Golden Records)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Soul, Blues, Rock & Roll, Pop
Title: Absolute 60's! (CD1)
Title: Goldfinger (Magic Oldies)
Title: Greatest 60's Pop
Title: Christmas Music 100 Hits (CD2)
Genre: Soul, Vocal Jazz, Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: Golden Years 1948-1957 · The Hits From A To Z ·, Vol. 6
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Jazz, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop
Title: Garden Of Eden (Forgotten Fifties)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop
Title: Golden Years 1948-1957 · The Hits From A To Z ·, Vol. 5
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Jazz, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop
Title: That's For Me (The Greatest Hits Of 1950s)
Genre: Jazz
Title: The Quarry (Unofficial Soundtrack)
Genre: Theatre/Soundtrack
Title: Golden Years 1948-1957 · The Hits From A To Z ·, Vol. 26
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop
Title: 100 Greatest Christmas Songs Ever 2022 (CD1)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: 100 Greatest Christmas Songs Ever 2022 (CD2)
Genre: Rock, Punk Rock, Pop, Traditional Pop Music
Title: The Sound Of The Brill Building: All Brits Edition
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Rock & Roll, Pop
Title: The Greatest Hits Of The 60's (200 Classics Remastered) (CD3)
Genre: Hip Hop/R&B, Jazz, Rock, Punk Rock, Pop