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Alma Cogan

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This article is about the singer named Alma Cogan. For the Gordon Burn novel, see Alma Cogan (novel).
Alma Cogan
Birth nameAlma Angela Cohen
Born(1932-05-19)19 May 1932
Whitechapel, East London, England
Died26 October 1966(1966-10-26) (aged 34)
GenresTraditional pop
Years active1952–1966
LabelsHMV, EMI Columbia
WebsiteAlma Cogan International Fan Club

Alma Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966)[1] was an English singer of traditional pop music in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed "The Girl With the Laugh/Giggle/Chuckle In Her Voice",[2] she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era. Throughout the mid-1950s, she was the most consistently successful female singer in the UK.[3]

Early life

She was born Alma Angela Cohen in Whitechapel, East London, England, of Russian-Romanian Jewish descent.[4] Her father's family, the Kogins, arrived in England from Russia, while her mother’s family were refugees from Romania.[5] Cogan's parents Mark and Fay Cohen had another daughter, the future actress Sandra Caron, four or five years later[6] and Alma Cogan also had a brother. Mark Cohen's work as a haberdasher involved opening stores in different areas; this entailed frequent relocation for his family. One of Cogan's early residences was in Worthing, Sussex – where her family originally lived above her father's shop.

Although Jewish, she attended St Joseph's Convent School in Reading.[7] 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): with maternal encouragement Cogan first performed in public at a charity show at the Palace Theatre in Reading and at age eleven competed in the "Sussex Queen of Song" contest held at a Brighton hotel winning the title and a prize of five pounds. By age thirteen Cogan was vocalizing with a band who played dances in the Worthing area and at age fourteen she was featured in a variety show at the Grand Theatre in Brighton having been recommended by Vera Lynn. The year Cogan turned sixteen her mother managed to get her an audition with bandleader Ted Heath who told Cogan: "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 of Cogan: "'Letting her go was one of the biggest mistakes of my life." [8] Nevertheless by her teens Cogan was singing at London tea dances.

Proceeding to Worthing Art College pursuant to her interest in dress design, Cogan continued singing in London venues including Selby's Restaurant and the Café Anglais. Cogan was a member of the chorus the production of High Button Shoes at the Hippodrome – the production opened in December 1948 – and Cogan was also featured in Sauce Tartare which opened in May 1949 at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End: Sauce Tartare was a revue starring Muriel Smith which also featured Audrey Hepburn, Renée Houston and Bob Monkhouse.[9]

In 1949, Cogan also became the resident singer at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch, where her original six-week booking was extended to eighteen months. It was at the Cumberland Hotel that Cogan was spotted by Walter Ridley an A&R man for HMV who was looking for a female act to add to the label's mostly male roster. Ridley would recall that he coached Cogan for two and a half years "having promised her father to look after her vocally."[10]

Early recording career

Cogan's first recording was "Red Silken Stockings" but as it was decided to give that song to her HMV label-mate entertainer Betty Driver, Cogan's first release was the 78 rpm record "To Be Worthy Of You"/"Would You" recorded on her twentieth birthday in 1952.[citation needed] Cogan's debut disc brought her to the attention of BBC Radio with Cogan resultantly performing regularly on Gently Bentley and in 1953 – out of a field of four hundred applicants – Cogan was hired as vocalist for the programme Take It From Here; both Cogan and June Whitfield were added to the cast after Joy Nichols left the UK.[11]

In 1953 Cogan was recording the song "If I Had A Golden Umbrella" and broke into a giggle: she played up this effect on some later recordings and upon attaining stardom would become known [by whom?] as "The girl with the giggle in her voice".

In the fashion of the time many of Cogan's recordings would be covers of US hits beginning in 1952 with "Half as Much"; however, the Rosemary Clooney original also became the UK hit. HMV subsequently had Cogan cover US hit songs by Clooney, Teresa Brewer, Georgia Gibbs, Joni James, Patti Page, Jo Stafford and Dinah Shore.

Symptomatic of the 1950s UK music industry, three UK singers covered Brewer's "Ricochet": Cogan, Billie Anthony and Joan Regan, and the same three UK singers: Cogan, Anthony and Regan, had as their next release a cover of "Bell Bottom Blues" – again a US hit for Teresa Brewer. Both Cogan and Billie Anthony had as their subsequent single to "Bell Bottom Blues" a cover of Jo Stafford's "Make Love to Me" – the original became the UK hit. Cogan, Anthony and Joan Regan all covered Rosemary Clooney's 1954 US #1 "This Ole House" – this time Anthony had the hit (she reached #4 despite being beaten by the Clooney original at #1). Regan had had the UK hit with "Ricochet" but "Bell Bottom Blues" - also covered by Shani Wallis - proved to be Cogan's chart breakthrough, reaching #4 on the chart dated 3 April 1954.[12]

1950s star

"Bell Bottom Blues" was typical of Cogan's '50s single releases, her output comprising mostly lightweight numbers whose chart success was fairly arbitrary: she appeared on the UK Singles Chart eighteen times between 1954 and 1960 with the 1955 release "Dreamboat" reaching #1. Cogan's second charting single was a cover of Kitty Kallen's US #1 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot" and despite Kallen's original reaching UK #1 in the summer of 1954 "Little Things Mean a Lot" did afford Cogan one of her biggest hits at #11. One of Cogan's earlier releases that year, "Little Shoemaker", had been a cover of The Gaylords' US #2 hit – it was a version by another UK songstress: Petula Clark, which had become the chart hit (Clark's first).

It was also in 1954 that Cogan recorded "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango", again a cover of a US chart hit – this one by Patti Page. Unusual for a UK cover, the original had only been a marginal US hit: "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango" was recommended to Cogan primarily as it was deemed a strong number for her and with a #6 chart peak "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango" became the second of Cogan's four UK Top Ten hits, Cogan's fourth Top Ten hit - following the 1955 #1 hit "Dreamboat" - being the Tommie Connor composition "Never Do a Tango With an Eskimo" (#6/ 1955) which afforded a foretaste of the international success Cogan would later enjoy when it became a hit in Iceland.

In 1956 Cogan's recording of "Willie Can" reached #13 besting a rival version by the Beverley Sisters (#23). That same year Cogan covered the US hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" originally a US hit by the Teenagers featuring Frankie Lymon but also a US Top Ten hit for Pop songstress Gale Storm: the Lymon/Teenagers original bettered its US chart impact in its UK release with a three-week #1 tenure in July 1956 but Cogan's cover did manage a #23 UK chart peak besting a non-charting UK release of the Gale Storm version.

In 1958 Cogan was one of several UK recording artists to cover "The Story of My Life" a Marty Robbins single which had afforded the songwriting team of Bacharach/David their first Top 40 hit: despite being bested not only by Michael Holliday's #1 version but also covers by Dave King and Gary Miller which reached respectively #20 and #14, Cogan's version of "The Story of My Life" did afford her a #25 hit. Another US hit: the McGuire Sisters 1958 #1 smash "Sugartime", was the source of Cogan's final UK Top 20 hit with her cover - featuring the Michael Sammes Singers - reaching #16 despite competition from the McGuires original and a cover by Jim Dale whose respective UK peaks were #14 and #25. Cogan's version of "Sugartime" aroused an especial antipathy in future Beatle John Lennon, then a Liverpool art school student whose classmate Helen Anderson would recall "used to make horrible jokes against [Cogan], impersonating her singing 'sugar in the morning, sugar in the evening, sugar at suppertime'. He'd pull crazy expressions on his face to try to imitate her expressions." Ironically Lennon and Cogan would later become friends and (according to Cogan's sister Sandra Caron) sometime lovers.[13]

Cogan's recordings were originally produced by Walter Ridley and subsequently by Norman Newell. Throughout her 1950s recording career Cogan recorded almost exclusively under the musical direction of Frank Cordell, notable exceptions being "Sugartime" and "The Story of My Life" on which Cogan recorded with musical direction from respectively Brian Fahey and Tony Osborne.

Cogan was one of the first UK recording artists to recognize the promotional potential of the new medium of television; while other singers were dependent on the vagaries of the record charts Cogan's career was buoyed by frequent television appearances showcasing not only her vocal prowess but her bubbly personality. Typically Cogan wore hooped skirts heavy with sequins and figure-hugging tops; reputedly her dresses were all custom made to her own designs and never worn twice. Cliff Richard recalls: "My first impression of her was definitely frocks – 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!"[14][15] When Cogan flew into New York City for a December 1957 engagement at the Persian Room customs inspectors impounded the sixteen ball gowns in her luggage, being skeptical that she could intend them all for her personal use during a short stay (the gowns were returned to Cogan in time for her opening).[16] Cogan had made her first visit to New York City earlier that year making an April 14 appearance on the televised variety programme Toast of the Town with a resultant booking at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Some of Cogan's UK singles were given a concurrent US release by RCA Victor with no discernible result.

Cogan's first album was released in 1958: I Love to Sing, which featured Frank Cordell conducting the orchestra, was focussed more on traditional pop classics rather than the lightweight material typical of Cogan's single releases.

In December 1956 Cogan topped the annual NME reader's poll as "Outstanding British Female Singer".[17] She finished top again in 1957 and 1958; after coming second to Shirley Bassey in 1959 Cogan again topped the poll in 1960 remaining a popular personality despite by then no longer being a major chart presence.[17]

Cogan was scheduled to participate in the national preliminary round for the UK in Eurovision 1959 singing "I'll Be With You": however the song was ultimately sung by Marion Keene.[18]

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 by Cogan with Lionel Bart who was for a time considered her fiancé and had written the musical Oliver! with Cogan in mind for the role of Nancy: Cogan being reluctant to commit to a stage musical, Oliver had 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).

Although only a moderate UK hit, "Train of Love" did prove to be a milestone recording for Cogan in that it inaugurated a string of international chart success for Cogan with a January 1961 ranking in the Japanese Top Ten, where Cogan would subsequently appear with "Just Couldn't Resist Her With Her Pocket Transistor" (featuring the Michael Sammes Singers) and "Goodbye Joe" in respectively the summer of 1961 and the spring of 1963. "Just Couldn't Resist Her With Her Pocket Transistor" also afforded 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 conceivably have carried over into the "Beat boom": that Cogan in fact failed to register on the UK charts after 1961 is traceable to the "party girl" image of her 1950s' heyday - despite being subsequently modified - remaining sufficiently vivid into the next decade so as to cause Cogan to be perceived as "square", an opinion expressed by Lionel Blair in 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: EMI largely precluded Cogan's UK chart prospects with "Tell Him" by affording UK release to the Exciters' version (which reached #46 UK). However "Tell Him" did afford Cogan a major hit in Sweden where it reached #10 in March 1963 paving the way for the strongest chart impact of Cogan's latterday career as she would reach #1 on the Swedish charts in both 1964 and 1965.[19] Additionally Cogan's "Tell Him" charted in the Netherlands in tandem with both the Exciters and Billie Davis versions peaking at #17 while the flip of Cogan's "Tell Him": her rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon", reached #1 in Israel in April 1963. Cogan courted additional international success for "Tell Him" by recording five alternate versions with lyrics in respectively French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish with her French rendering affording Cogan her sole appearance on the charts in France with a #53 peak.

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.[20]

Cogan spent eight weeks at #1 in Sweden in the summer of 1964 with a rock and roll ballad reworking of "Tennessee Waltz": conducted by Charles Blackwell, who'd been responsible for Kathy Kirby's hit remake of "Secret Love".[21] "Tennessee Waltz" also afforded Cogan a Top Twenty hit in Denmark in the summer of 1964 while the alternate version "Tennessee-Waltz", featuring a German vocal by Cogan, 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"[22] 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",[23] which that autumn gave Cogan a hit in both Denmark (#8) and Norway (#4).

Subsequent to "Tell Him" Cogan continued to bid for international success by recording up to seven versions of some tracks in different languages. Her extensive itinerary of international mid-1960s exposure included concert tours of Japan and Israel in May of respectively 1962 and 1963; a musical guest appearance at the Venice Film Festival in September 1963; a junket to Sweden in September 1964 which included a concert at the Nalen music hall; and television guest spots in Australia, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. Also Cogan's lack of a UK chart presence in the 1960s did not preclude her regularly appearing on British television including the March 20, 1964 broadcast of Ready Steady Go! on which John Lennon introduced Cogan's "Tennessee Waltz" (Cogan appeared briefly with Lennon and series host Keith Fordyce but did not perform the song; rather the record was played for the audience to dance to). Cogan's 1960s' UK performing credits included headlining at the Talk of the Town in January 1964.

Hostess to the Beatles

By the mid-1960s, Cogan was a staple of the UK press less for her performing career than for the all-night parties she threw at the ground floor Kensington High Street apartment her father had purchased in 1951 (Mark Cohen died in 1952): 44 Stafford Court was the longtime residence of Cogan and her mother Fay Cohen and sister Sandra Caron. Cynthia Lennon, who'd visit in the company of her husband John Lennon of the Beatles, would recall Cogan's home as "decorated like a swish nightclub with dark, richly coloured silken fabrics and brocades everywhere. Every surface was covered with ethnic sculptures, ornaments and dozens of photographs in elaborate silver, gold and jewelled frames." Regular visitors included such diverse figures as Noël Coward, Tommy Steele,[2] Cary Grant, Sammy Davis, Jr, Danny Kaye, Audrey Hepburn, Princess Margaret, Michael Caine, Frankie Vaughan, Lionel Bart, Stanley Baker, Bruce Forsyth, Ethel Merman, Roger Moore and a host of other celebrities.[15]

Cogan was especially noted for her friendship with the Beatles, whom she met during rehearsals for Sunday Night at the London Palladium on 12 January 1964, John Lennon and Paul McCartney in particular being her frequent guests. Cynthia Lennon would recall "John and I had thought of Alma [whom John dubbed 'Sara Sequin'] [as] out of date and unhip. We remembered her in the old-fashioned cinched-in waists and wide skirts of the Fifties. But in the flesh she was beautiful, intelligent and funny, oozing sex appeal and charm." In fact Cynthia detected sexual tension between her husband and Cogan to the point of believing the two were intimately involved and a long-term affair between Cogan and John Lennon is alleged by Sandra Caron (Paul McCartney acknowledges conducting a "slight romance" with Caron).[24] The other three Beatles referred to Cogan as "Auntie Alma".

It was on the piano at Cogan's flat that McCartney first played the melody of "Yesterday" which had come to him in a dream: McCartney wished assurance his dream song was original and felt that Cogan with her vast musical knowledge would be the person to identify the tune if it did already exist. (Her response was: "I don't know what it is, but it's beautiful.")

Rumours that McCartney and Lennon contributed musically to Cogan's mid-'60s recording sessions proved longstanding but only McCartney's playing tambourine on "I Knew Right Away" – the B-side of Cogan's 30 October 1964 release "It's You" – is verifiable. McCartney has said of Cogan: "We'd known Alma as the big singing star. We never interacted musically, she was a little too old for our generation, not much probably, but it seemed like an eternity, so I never took her seriously musically. She was old-school showbiz."

Final recordings

Cogan hoped to use her association with the Beatles to abet a recording comeback by cutting an album comprising Lennon–McCartney compositions. The concept was nixed by EMI because of the plethora of similar albums then on the market. However, Cogan did cut versions of "I Feel Fine", "Yesterday", "Eight Days a Week" and "Help", with the last two tracks being released as a single in 1965: the A-side "Eight Days a Week" was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, 4 October 1965. Although being considered one of Cogan's most distinguished tracks, it was not, as rumour would later have it, recorded in the presence of either John Lennon or Paul McCartney, neither of whom were then at the studio or, as has been suggested, played an instrument such as the tambourine.[25]

Cogan also funded and recorded tracks for producer Andrew Loog Oldham including a remake of Barbara George's "I Know (You Don't Love Me No More)": these tracks which showcased Cogan as a much grittier vocalist than previously were dismissed by EMI as substandard and unreleasable.

In 1965 EMI's dissatisfaction with Cogan manifested itself in the label's decision to have her cut an album, the recording of which would satisfy the number of tracks remaining on Cogan's contract, after which EMI would not renew her contract. The production was assigned to David Gooch, the recently hired staff producer who had been responsible for the recording of several West End musical soundtracks for EMI's affiliate MFP label. With orchestrations by veteran Cogan associate Stan Foster, the recording of tracks for the final album began that summer in Studio 1 at Abbey Road Studios.[3] All of the songs were initially recorded without the presence of the singer because Cogan was unwell ("supposedly with a bad cold or the flu" – Gooch): the Musicians' Union gave permission for the backing tracks to be recorded to which she later added her voice. The Abbey Road sessions featured a version of "A Lover's Concerto": a German language version of that song cut in Cologne would be Cogan's final recording which she recorded together with the orchestra.

Illness and death

Singer Anne Shelton attributed her friend Cogan's health decline to "highly experimental" injections she took to lose weight saying "after those injections, [Cogan] was never well again".[26]

In early 1966 Cogan embarked on a series of club dates in the north of England: she collapsed after two performances suffering stomach pains and returned to London where she was diagnosed with stomach cancer.[15] She received treatment and planned to continue her career, even co-writing several songs with Stan Foster for other singers including "I Only Dream of You" recorded by Joe Dolan and Ronnie Carroll's "Wait For Me". Cogan used the pseudonym 'Al Western' for these titles while Foster was credited as 'Stephen Forest'.[27]

Still hoping for a return to the UK charts, Cogan recorded the "Al Western"/"Stephen Forest" composition "Love Ya Illya" under the pseudonym Angela and the Fans. Released by Pye Records in April 1966, this salute to the David McCallum character on the TV show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. received extensive airplay, especially on the offshore pirate radio stations, without mustering enough popularity to rank in the UK Top 50.

In August 1966 Cogan filmed a guest spot on the BBC-TV variety series International Cabaret on which she closed the show with a twenty-minute musical segment: the episode - broadcast September 26, 1966 - would mark Cogan's final television appearance. September 1966 also saw the release of "Hello Baby" a single which Cogan had recorded exclusively for the Swedish market: Cogan was in Sweden promoting this single when she collapsed, occasioning a return to London where Cogan was hospitalized at Middlesex Hospital for three weeks before succumbing to ovarian cancer on 26 October 1966 at the age of 34.

Cogan had never been a practising Jew but in deference to her family her death was observed with traditional Hebraic rites concluding with burial at Bushey Jewish Cemetery in Hertfordshire.

Legacy

David Gooch oversaw the release of a posthumous single featuring Cogan's composition "Now That I've Found You" – originally issued as the B-side of the 1965 single "Love is a Word" – backed by Cogan's version of "More" which Gooch chose in recognition of its lyricist Norman Newell's contribution to Cogan's career. Cogan's final album Alma – comprising the tracks cut at Abbey Road in 1965 augmented with some of Cogan's final single releases – was released in 1967; its release was held back for several months to accommodate the release of the retrospective album Alma Cogan.[15]

Cogan's death failed to significantly renew interest in her. Collections of Cogan's music have been released on CD, including a complete triple album anthology (A-Z of Alma, 1995).[15] The novel Alma Cogan by Gordon Burn – in which a retired Cogan is still alive in the 1980s – won the Whitbread Book Award in 1991. The 1996 hit "Alma Matters" by Morrissey – who is known for his appreciation for cultural icons – has been interpreted as being about Cogan.[28]

A blue plaque commemorating Cogan was installed by the entrance of her longtime residence, 44 Stafford Court, on 4 November 2001.

In the summer of 2002, BBC Radio 4 broadcast a series based on Cogan's life entitled Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter; written by Annie Caulfield, the series featured Jessica Martin as Cogan and Alison Steadman as her mother Fay Cohen. Cogan's sister Sandra Caron unsuccessfully petitioned the High Court to block the airing of the series which she claimed misrepresented Cogan as a heavy drinker and Fay Cohen as a domineering stage mother.[29] In December 2003, the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that the BBC apologize to Caron for failing to respect the feelings of Cogan's surviving family members in broadcasting Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter.[30]

The 2011 British film In Love with Alma Cogan features the central character's past relationship with Cogan and her music.

Recordings

Singles (UK releases)

Albums

Biography

  • Alma Cogan: The Girl With The Laugh In Her Voice by Sandra Caron (Alma's sister) – ISBN 0-7475-0984-0

References

  1. ^ "Dead Rock Stars Club @ efortress.com". Users.efortress.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  2. ^ a b "Alma Cogan – Biography". Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 20. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  4. ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography - Subscription based
  5. ^ Mantel, Hilary (1992-09-24). "On the Edge". The New York Review of Books. Retrieved 2011-03-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ The "Tail Pieces by the Alley Cat" column in NME dated 14 September 1956 cites Sandra Caron's age as 19.
  7. ^ "Alma Cogan". mp3.com. Retrieved 26 November 2007.
  8. ^ "Jukebox Jumpers". Jukeboxjumpers.multiply.com. Retrieved 2012-12-15.
  9. ^ "Audrey.hepburn.free.fr". Audrey.hepburn.free.fr. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  10. ^ Billboard vol 85 #35 (Sept 1 1973) p.21
  11. ^ The Age October 21, 1953 p.3
  12. ^ "Chartstats.com". Chartstats.com. 1954-03-27. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  13. ^ "Sentstarr.tripod.com". Sentstarr.tripod.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  14. ^ Vandyke, Alan. "Lastingtribute.co.uk". Lastingtribute.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  15. ^ a b c d e "AMG". Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  16. ^ Dorothy Kilgallen Voice of Broadway" December 17, 1957
  17. ^ a b Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 33. CN 5585.
  18. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest British Heats". Songs4europe.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  19. ^ "Kuallstoppen - Listresultaten vecka for vecka (1962)" (PDF). Hitsallertijden.nl. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
  20. ^ "Rarebeatles.com". Rarebeatles.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  21. ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  22. ^ The B-side was a German version of the Gale Garnett US hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" re-entitled "Ich Liebe Die Sonne".
  23. ^ Cogan had a 1956 UK chart entry entitled "The Birds and the Bees": this is Cogan's recording of "(The Same Thing Happens with) The Birds and the Bees".
  24. ^ "Sentstarr.tripod.com". Sentstarr.tripod.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  25. ^ Gooch
  26. ^ "Dailymail.co.uk". London: Dailymail.co.uk. 7 November 2006. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  27. ^ "Lost Divas – Alma Cogan by Steve Walker". Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  28. ^ "Motorcycleaupairboy.com". Motorcycleaupairboy.com. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
  29. ^ Independent.co.uk
  30. ^ Telegraph.co.uk
  31. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 113. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

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