Gogi Grant - The Wayward Wind: The Essential Collection 1955-61 (2021)

The daughter of Russian immigrant parents in Philadelphia, she moved with her family to Loa Angeles and came to the fore through TV talent shows, leading to a contract with RCA-Victor – RCA’s Dave Kapp gave her the name “Gogi”, which was the name of his favourite restaurant. She moved to the Era label, for whom she had her debut No. 9 hit “Suddenly There’s A Valley” and her landmark US No. 1 and UK Top 10 with “The Wayward Wind” before moving back to RCA in 1957. This great-value 53-track 2-CD set comprises most of her A & B sides on the RCA-Victor, Era & Liberty labels from these years, including the six chart hits she had during this era. She also became a popular album artist, especially with selections of movie music, and along with the singles, the collection features selected titles from her albums “Suddenly There’s Gogi Grant” on Era, “The Helen Morgan Story”, “Gigi”, “Welcome To My Heart”, “Showboat”, “Torch Time”, “Kiss Me Kate” and “Granted….It’s Gogi” on RCA and “If You Want To Get To Heaven…Shout!” on Liberty. Although her success came after rock ‘n’ roll had made its impact on the pop market, her style was perhaps more of an earlier time, and in offering a selective overview of her output during what was the main period of her career, this collection provides a showcase for a talent who was very much of her era and has probably not had the attention she merits.