Celebrity Nooz: Gogi Grant

Gogi Grant (Singer) - The Wayward Wind

Updated: 2/13/14

Name: Gogi Grant

Birth Name: Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg

Born: September 20, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Claim To Fame: She is best known for her long-running classic No. 1 hit, "The Wayward Wind".

Family Life: Has one daughter, Jeri, and one son, Joshua Beckett.

Info: Grant moved to Los Angeles at the age of 12, where she won a teenage singing contest and appeared on television talent shows. Her recording career began in 1952 and was given the name "Gogi" by Dave Kapp, the head of Artists and Repertory at RCA Records.

She signed with record company Era Records in 1955, and had her first top ten hit with "Suddenly There's a Valley." Her next song, "The Wayward Wind," reached Billboard's No. 1 position, where it stayed for a record eight weeks. The song sold over one million copies in the United States alone, and peaked at No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart.

In 1958, she released the single "Strange Are the Ways of Love," and was also signed to star in The Big Beat, which featured musical performances by the Cal Tjader Quintet, George Shearing, and the Del Vikings. It was released in February 1958. That year Grant was one of three solo singers featured in the first stereo LP of the classic musical Show Boat.

Her popularity begin to decline in the 1960s and she initially retired from singing in 1967. However, one of her albums was released in the UK some 20 years later. In 2004, she appeared on the PBS 1950s pop music special Magic Moments and sang "The Wayward Wind."

Trivia: In 1952, she began recording first as "Audrey Brown" and later "Audrey Grant".

Voted "Most Popular Female Vocalist of 1956" by Billboard Magazine.

In 1957, she had a brief fling in Hollywood. She provided the dubbed vocals (singing for Ann Blyth) of vintage 1920s hits in the soundtrack of Michael Curtiz's biopic The Helen Morgan Story (1957). She also appeared as "Cindy Adams" in William J. Cowen's rock 'n roll quickie The Big Beat (1958).

Where Are They Now: Grant is still performing as of 2013 - at the age of 89. She recently headlined with The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies in Palm Springs, California.

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