Gogi Grant (born Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg, September 20, 1924) is an American popular singer.
Life and career
She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the age of 12, she moved to Los Angeles, California where she attended Venice High School. In California, she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television talent shows. In 1952, she began to record, using first the name “Audrey Brown” and later “Audrey Grant.” She was given the name “Gogi” by Dave Kapp, the head of Artists and Repertory at RCA Records, who liked to patronize a restaurant called “Gogi’s LaRue.”
In 1955, she signed with a small record company, Era Records, and had her first top ten hit with “Suddenly There's a Valley.” The next year, she had an even bigger hit reaching Billboard magazine’s #1 position with “The Wayward Wind” and holding there for eight weeks. Gogi was even voted most popular female vocalist by Billboard magazine. This single returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961.
In 1957, she supplied the vocals for Ann Blyth's portrayal of Helen Morgan in the biographical film The Helen Morgan Story. The soundtrack occasioned her return to RCA (the soundtrack album climbed to #25 in the Billboard album chart), where she had a minor hit the following year with “Strange Are the Ways of Love.” Moreover, she was signed to star in “The Big Beat” in the spring of 1957. The film, which featured musical performances by the Cal Tjader Quintet, George Shearing, and the Del Vikings, was produced and directed by William Cowan and released in February 1958.
In 1958, Grant was one of the three solo singers featured in the first stereo LP of the classic musical Show Boat. The other solo singers were Howard Keel, who had appeared in the 1951 film version of the show, and Anne Jeffreys.[1]
Although she made albums and appeared on television into the 1960s, her popularity declined and she retired from singing in 1967 after a final U.S. chart single, “The Sea” (top 20 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart). Nevertheless, an album of hers was released in England some 20 years later.
Miss Grant is still performing as of 2009; she headlined with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies in Palm Springs, California. Her last show with the Follies was on December 31, 2006. Grant is now 85 years old.
Hit recordings
Album discography
- Suddenly There's Gogi Grant (1957)
- The Helen Morgan Story (original soundtrack) (1958)
- Welcome To My Heart (1958)
- If You Want To Get To Heaven, Shout (1959)
- Torch Time (1959)
- City Girl In The Country (1964)
References
External links
