Alma Angela Cohen Cogan[1] (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Cogan first performed in public at a charity show at the Palace Theatre in Reading and at the age of 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 and in July 1947 she appeared there for a week with Max Miller.

"[8] She also found work singing at tea dances while also studying dress design at Worthing Art College and was soon appearing as a chorus girl in the musical High Button Shoes at the London Hippodrome in November 1948 and in a revue called Sauce Tartare at the Cambridge Theatre in London in May 1949.

[9] She became resident singer at the Cumberland Hotel in London in 1949, where she was spotted by EMI producer Walter Ridley, who became her coach and signed her to His Master's Voice.

Other hits from this period include "I Can't Tell a Waltz from a Tango", "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", "Sugartime" and "The Story of My Life".

Cogan was one of the first UK recording artists to appear frequently on television, where her powerful voice could be showcased along with her bubbly personality and dramatic costumes.

"[12][13] Cogan topped the annual NME reader's poll as "Outstanding British Female Singer" four times between 1956 and 1960.

When she toured around Sweden in the mid 1960s with popular local pop bands, whose members were some ten years younger than her, she got the playful nickname "popmormor" (pop-grandmother).

She continued to be a popular figure on the UK showbusiness scene, being offered the part of Nancy in Oliver!,[citation needed] appearing on the teenage hit-show Ready Steady Go!

Her friend and colleague Anne Shelton attributed this decline to some "highly experimental" injections she took to lose weight, claiming that Cogan was never well again after that.

[citation needed] Cogan lived with her widowed mother in Kensington High Street (at 44 Stafford Court) in a lavishly decorated ground-floor flat where she frequently entertained other celebrities.

Regular visitors included Princess Margaret, Noël Coward, Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine, Frankie Vaughan, Bruce Forsyth and Roger Moore.

[18] The 1987 compilation album A Celebration includes a testimonial from McCartney: When the Beatles first came to London, Alma was lovely to us... welcoming us with open arms.

[19]Cogan embarked on a series of club dates in England in early 1966, but collapsed after two performances and had to be treated for stomach cancer.

Based on true events and real people, aside from the device of denying her early death, it won the Whitbread Book Award in 1991.

The BBC Radio 4 series Stage Mother, Sequinned Daughter (2002) by Annie Caulfield was partly adapted from this novel.

Eventually the Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that the BBC apologise to Sandra for failing to respect the feelings of surviving family members.

A blue plaque commemorating Cogan was installed at the entrance of 44 Stafford Court, her long-time residence, on 4 November 2001.