Where Are They Now - February 14, 2014

Hello fans,

Thank you for voting in the new poll. It looks like many of you want to catch up with singer Gogi Grant, and I am happy to oblige. Grant's recording career began when she was in her late 20s and she went on to find success with such hits as "The Wayward Wind." Keep on reading to find out more about her career and what she has been up to in more recent years.

Take care,
Melissa

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Questions? Comments? Email Melissa

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View Past Issues: Where Are They Now Archives

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--DEAD OR ALIVE?--
See if you know if the following celebrities have had a visit from the "Grim Reaper":

Anne Archer: She got blown up in an exploding plane in the movie "Good Guys Wear Black", she's also appeared in "Fatal Attraction", "Patriot Games", "Narrow Margin" and other films

Richard Paul: Starred in the TV series "Carter Country", played Jerry Falwell in several movies

Jean-Paul Belmondo: French actor, starred in "Breathless" which made him the leading attraction of the French New Wave movement, also appeared in "That Man from Rio", "Is Paris Burning?", "Le Professionnel" and many other movies

(Answer at the bottom)
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Gogi Grant
Learn More About Gogi Grant on Celebrity Nooz

BIRTH DATE: September 20, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

BIRTH NAME: Myrtle Audrey Arinsberg

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 IS SHE 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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DISCOGRAPHY:
Suddenly There's Gogi Grant (Era US, London UK, 1957)
The Helen Morgan Story (original soundtrack - RCA Victor, 1958)
Welcome To My Heart (RCA Victor, 1958)
Torch Time (RCA Victor, 1958)
Show Boat & Howard Keel, Anne Jeffreys (RCA Victor, 1958)
Kiss me Kate & Howard Keel, Anne Jeffreys (RCA Victor 1959)
Granted it's Gogi (RCA Victor, 1959)
If You Want To Get To Heaven, Shout (Liberty, 1960)
City Girl In The Country (CRC-Charter, 1964)

To see Then & Now pictures of Gogi Grant, visit: Celebrity Nooz

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--Answers to DEAD OR ALIVE--
Anne Archer - ALIVE
Born: 08/24/1947

Richard Paul - DEAD (Cancer)
Born: 6/06/1940 Died: 12/25/1998

Jean-Paul Belmondo - ALIVE
Born: 04/09/1933

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WHO PASSED ON THIS WEEK...
2/12
Sid Caesar, 91, American comedian and actor (Your Show of Shows, Caesar's Hour, Grease, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World).
Maggie Estep, 50, American poet and writer, cardiac arrest.
Santiago Feliu, 51, Cuban songwriter and singer, heart attack.

2/11
Roy Alvarez, 63, Filipino actor, cardiac arrest.
Alice Babs, 90, Swedish singer and actress, Alzheimer's disease.
Peter Desbarats, 80, Canadian author, playwright and journalist.
Fernando Gonzalez Pacheco, 81, Colombian television personality.
Leon Hegele, 89, French Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Strasbourg (1985-2000).
Gregorio Jiménez, Mexican journalist.
Arvella Schuller, 84, American church music director, TV producer (Hour of Power), co-founded Garden Grove Community Church.
Seán Potts, 83, Irish musician (The Chieftains).
Mikhail Voronkov, 93, Russian chemist, one of the founders of the bioorganosilicon chemistry, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

2/10
Vyacheslav Apanasenko, 66, Russian rear admiral, Chief of the GRAU (until 2003), suicide by gunshot.
Els Borst, 81, Dutch politician, Deputy Prime Minister (1998-2002).
Stuart Hall, 82, Jamaican-born British cultural theorist.
Gordon Harris, 73, English footballer, cancer.
Betty Jaynes, 68, American basketball coach (James Madison University), member of Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
Olga Jevric, 91, Serbian sculptor.
Leonard Knight, 82, American artist, creator of Salvation Mountain.
Nenad Lukic, 45, Serbian footballer (Obilic).
Ronnie Masterson, 87, Irish actress (Angela's Ashes).
Ian McNaught-Davis, 84, British mountaineer, President of the UIAA (1995-2004).
Albin W. Norblad, 74, American attorney and jurist, Oregon Circuit Court Judge (since 1973), brain hemorrhage.
Tomaz Pengov, 64, Slovenian singer-songwriter, guitarist, lutist and poet.
Christian Patria, 69, French politician.
Boleslaw Polnar, 61, Polish artist.
Shirley Temple, 85, American actress and diplomat, recipient of the Academy Juvenile Award (1935), Ambassador to Ghana (1974-1976) and Czechoslovakia (1989-1992), natural causes.
Pere Tena Garriga, 85, Spanish Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Barcelona (1993-2004).

2/9
Pius Suh Awa, 83, Cameroonian Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Buéa (1973-2006).
Gabriel Axel, 95, Danish film director (Babette's Feast) and actor.
Ranjit Bhatia, 77, Indian Olympic long-distance runner (1960).
Serafin R. Cuevas, 85, Filipino jurist, Secretary of Justice (1998-2000).
Jan Groenendijk, 67, Dutch footballer (Utrecht), esophageal cancer.
Joseph Harb, 70, Lebanese writer and poet.
Sir Graham Hills, 87, Scottish chemist.
Eddie Holding, 83, English football player and manager, prostate cancer.
Marius, 1, Danish giraffe, shot.
Logan Scott-Bowden, 93, British army general.
Fazal Shahabuddin, 78, Bangladeshi poet and journalist.
Sir John Stibbon, 79, British army general, Master-General of the Ordnance (1987-1991).
Abul Kalam Mohammad Yusuf, 87, Bangladeshi politician, co-founder of the Razakar paramilitary force in Khulna.

2/8
Deogratias Muganwa Byabazaire, 72, Ugandan Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Hoima (since 1991).
Abdelaziz al-Hasadi, Libyan prosecutor, Attorney General (2011-2013), shot.
Bernard Hedges, 86, Welsh cricketer (Glamorgan).
Nancy Holt, 75, American land artist.
Keith Hughes, 45, American basketball player (Rutgers University).
Abdul Salam Kanaan, Jordanian politician.
Philippe Mahut, 57, French footballer (national team).
Mike Melluish, 81, English cricket player and administrator, President of Marylebone Cricket Club (1991-1992).
Andy Paton, 91, Scottish footballer.
Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, 25, Brazilian footballer, traffic collision.
Abe Woodson, 79, American football player (San Francisco 49ers).

2/7
Harmodio Arias Cerjack, Panamanian politician, Foreign Minister (2003-2004).
Ernst Bakker, 67, Dutch politician, Mayor of Hilversum (1998-2011).
Christopher Barry, 88, British television director (Doctor Who).
S. M. H. Burney, 90, Indian civil servant.
Hasjrul Harahap, 82, Indonesian government official, Minister of Forestry (1993-1998).
Daniel J. Harrington, 73, American Jesuit priest, biblical scholar and professor (Boston College), cancer.
Georgina Henry, 53, British journalist, deputy editor of The Guardian (1995-2006), sinus cancer.
Ernie Lyons, 99, Irish motorcycle racer.
Murray Mendenhall, Jr., 88, American basketball player (Anderson Packers) and coach.
Doug Mohns, 80, Canadian ice hockey player (Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks).
Nico Nicolaiewsky, 56, Brazilian musician and comedian, complications due to acute leukemia.
J. Mack Robinson, 90, American businessman and philanthropist.
Tado, 39, Filipino comedian, traffic collision.
Thee Kian Wie, 78, Indonesian economist (LIPI).

2/6
Vasil Bilak, 96, Czechoslovak politician, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1968-1988).
Cornelius Botha, 81, South African politician, Administrator of Natal Province (1990-1994), heart failure.
Tommy Dixon, 84, English footballer (West Ham United).
Ralph Kiner, 91, American Hall of Fame baseball player (Pittsburgh Pirates) and announcer (New York Mets), natural causes.
Maxine Kumin, 88, American poet and author, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1973).
Toru Mori, 78, Japanese baseball player, hepatocellular carcinoma.
Peter Philipp, 42, German writer and comedian.
Marty Plissner, 87, American political commentator (CBS News), coined "too close to call" phrase, lung cancer.
David Robertson, 70, British Formula One driver manager (Jenson Button, Kimi Räikkönen) and Formula 3 Team owner (Double R Racing).
Vaçe Zela, 74, Albanian singer and guitarist, recipient of the Merited Artist of Albania (1973) and the People's Artist of Albania (1977).