Sharing a birthday with the divine Grace Jones and the much-missed "national treasure" Victoria Wood, as well as the usual bizarre assortment of "names" such as Nellie Melba, Malcolm X, Nancy Astor, Pete Townshend, Kemal Atatürk, Martyn Ware, Trevor Peacock, Nora Ephron, Ho Chi Minh, Edward de Bono, Nancy Kwan, Joey Ramone, Sandy Wilson, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Sam Smith, James Fox, and - erm - Pol Pot...
..."the girl with the giggle in her voice", the lovely Alma Cogan would have been 90 today!
As I wrote when I featured the lovely lady over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp five years ago:
Known for her fabulous gowns as much as her cheery songs - never appearing in the same dress twice - Alma Cogan was also renowned for her lavish parties, guests at which included some of the greatest "names" of her day including Princess Margaret, Noël Coward, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Caine, Roger Moore, Frankie Vaughan, Bruce Forsyth and many more. She became one of the first UK record artists to appear frequently on television - that fledgling post-War novelty - and, despite being deemed "uncool" by the time the 60s arrived, nevertheless she allegedly had a passionate affair with John Lennon, and was a close friend of all the Beatles.Her premature death from cancer aged just 34 shocked the nation, and to this day she is revered for the joy she brought to this country in the midst of the "austerity years" and beyond.
And, for your delectation, here's some examples of that "joy":
...and our "house fave" here at Dolores Delargo Towers:
Long gone, but never forgotten!
I loved these videos and I think I’ve fallen in love with Alma Cogan.
ReplyDeleteShe was easy to fall in love with, that's for sure! Jx
DeleteAlma is divine. As for Pete Townsend... he was only doing research... RESEARCH! Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteAlma always cheers us up... Jx
DeleteAlma Cogan! I had one of her hits on a record ("This is me and I'm in Love Again", should Mitchell want to track it down ) Flip side was "Mama, teach me to Dance"
ReplyDeleteShe was a super- hit back then. This was , too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ds70EQevz8
She had quite a significant number of hits to her name - who knows how big her career would have been if she hadn't departed for Fabulon at such a young age? After all, despite also being classed as "uncool" in the age of the Beatles, her contemporaries such as Shirley Bassey and Tony Bennett didn't do too badly... Jx
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