Return to Rock-and-Roll Page.Gogi Grant was a very good singer in the 50's and 60's, and beyond. She is most closely identified with a giant hit that she recorded for Era Records in the mid-50's.
Her name at birth in Philadelphia in 1924 was Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg. At age twelve she moved with her family to Los Angeles. She enjoyed hearing music on the radio performed by recording artists such as Ruth Etting and Russ Columbo. As a teenager, Miss Arinsberg won a contest for teen singers in California and appeared on television in some talent shows. In 1952 she began her recording career, using the name Audrey Brown, and later performed as Audrey Grant. She had a pleasing voice and was signed by Dave Kapp, an executive with RCA. Kapp dined frequently at Gogi's La Rue, a New York City restaurant, and renamed the rising young star Gogi Grant.
In 1955 Gogi Grant, as she was now known, signed with Era Records. In the Fall of that year, recording with an orchestra conducted by Buddy Bregman, she managed to put her first record for Era in the top ten, Suddenly There's A Valley. She followed that with The Wayward Wind, a song about a lost love that became a monster hit, rising to the number one spot in June, 1956 and remaining there for eight weeks.
Warner Brothers had cast Ann Blyth in the title role of The Helen Morgan Story, a biographical motion picture about the life of the 1920's torch singer. Gogi Grant was chosen by director Michael Curtiz and musical director Ray Heindorf to record as the singing voice of Helen Morgan on the soundtrack, which was released on RCA. Gogi also appeared in the 1958 motion picture The Big Beat.
Once again backed by the Buddy Bregman band, Gogi had a minor hit with Strange Are The Ways Of Love for RCA in 1958. She continued recording albums throughout the 50's and 60's, and made appearances on television (including the broadcast of the Academy Awards) and in concert. Gogi Grant decided to retire from her singing career in 1967. She made a comeback in 1987 with an album that was reissued by RCA in England titled Granted ... It's Gogi. It was well received by music critics.
Gogi Grant raised her son and daughter in Los Angeles. She died there on March 10, 2016, at age 91. She is best remembered by most of the record-buying public for her fabulous 1956 number one hit The Wayward Wind.
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