Alma Cogan

Alma Cogan
Alma Cogan, Tel Aviv, 1963
Background information
Birth name	Alma Angela Cohen
Born	(1932-05-19)19 May 1932 Whitechapel, East London, England
Died	26 October 1966(1966-10-26) (aged 34) London, England
Genres	Traditional pop
Years active	1952–1966
Labels	HMV, EMI Columbia
Website	Alma Cogan International Fan Club

Alma Angela Cohen (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966), known professionally as Alma Cogan, was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era.

She was born on 19 May 1932 in Whitechapel, London, of Russian-Romanian Jewish descent. Her father's family, the Kogins, arrived in Britain from Russia, while her mother's family were refugees from Romania. Cogan's parents, Mark and Fay Cohen, had another daughter, the actress Sandra Caron, and one son, Ivor Cogan. Mark's work as a haberdasher entailed frequent moves. One of Cogan's early homes was over his shop in Worthing, Sussex.

Although Jewish, she attended St Joseph's Convent School in Reading. Her father was a singer, but it was Cogan's mother who had show business aspirations for both her daughters (she had named Cogan after silent screen star Alma Taylor). Cogan first performed in public at a charity show at the Palace Theatre in Reading, and at eleven, competed in the "Sussex Queen of Song" contest held at a Brighton hotel, winning a prize of £5.

Aged 14, she was recommended by Vera Lynn for a variety show at the Grand Theatre in Brighton. At 16 she was told by bandleader Ted Heath "You've got a good voice, but you're far too young for this business. Come back in five years' time." Heath would later say: "'Letting her go was one of the biggest mistakes of my life." But Cogan found work singing at tea dances, while also studying dress design at Worthing Art College, and was soon appearing in the musical High Button Shoes and a revue, Sauce Tartare. In 1949 she became resident singer at the Cumberland Hotel, where she was spotted by Walter Ridley of HMV, who became her coach.