The daughter of Russian immigrant parents in Philadelphia, she moved with her family to Los 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 53-track set features most of her A- and B-sides on the RCA-Victor, Era and Liberty labels, 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 records: 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 (RCA) and If You Want To Get To Heaven…Shout! (Liberty).

Written by Stanley Lebowsky (music) and Herb Newman (lyrics), The Wayward Wind, replaced Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel on top of the Billboard singles chart in 1956. The “Wayward Wind” of the title is a metaphor for wanderlust: an irrepressible urge to travel and explore. Members of the Western Writers of America chose the song as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.

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, this collection provides a showcase for a talent who was very much of her era and has probably not had the attention she merits.

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