Gogi Grant was an actress and singer best known for performing the popular ballad “The Wayward Wind,” which bumped Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” off the top of the charts in 1956. She remained at No. 1 for six weeks, selling more than a million copies. Billboard also voted her the year’s most popular female vocalist. The song was performed by many other acts over the years including Patsy Cline and The Beatles.
Grant also dubbed all of the songs for Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic The Helen Morgan Story, a film about the famed torch singer who went from a sordid past to wealth and fame, only to lose it all due to alcoholism. Grant also played a recording artist in 1958’s The Big Beat, which also featured Fats Domino, The Del-Vikings, The Diamonds, The Mills Brothers and Harry James.
Additionally, Grant appeared on television, including roles on the series Dan Raven and The Lloyd Bridges Show. She also performed frequently on TV as herself, including on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, The Nat King Cole Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Linkletter Show.
Gogi Grant was an actress and singer best known for performing the popular ballad “The Wayward Wind,” which bumped Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” off the top of the charts in 1956. She remained at No. 1 for six weeks, selling more than a million copies. Billboard also voted her the year’s most popular female vocalist. The song was performed by many other acts over the years including Patsy Cline and The Beatles.
Grant also dubbed all of the songs for Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic The Helen Morgan Story, a film about the famed torch singer who went from a sordid past to wealth and fame, only to lose it all due to alcoholism. Grant also played a recording artist in 1958’s The Big Beat, which also featured Fats Domino, The Del-Vikings, The Diamonds, The Mills Brothers and Harry James.
Additionally, Grant appeared on television, including roles on the series Dan Raven and The Lloyd Bridges Show. She also performed frequently on TV as herself, including on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show, The Nat King Cole Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, and The Linkletter Show.
Grant also recorded more than a dozen albums, which spawned hits including “Suddenly There’s a Valley,” “The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else,” “When the Tide Is High,” “Who Are We,” “You’re In Love” and “The Sea.”
She got her start after winning an amateur singing contest at a Hollywood nightclub and making appearances on TV talent shows.
Grant died March 10, 2016, in California. She was 91.
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