Sam Costa

Samuel Gabriel Costa (17 June 1910 – 23 September 1981) was an English singer, entertainer and broadcaster. Initially a popular singer in the dance band era and a comic actor on the show Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, he was later a disc jockey for Radio Luxembourg and the BBC.

Life and career Costa was born in Stoke Newington, London, the son of journalist Gabriel Costa and Annie (née Sawer), and was of Sephardic Jewish-Portuguese ancestry – Costa is a Jewish, and non-Jewish, Portuguese surname.

Sam Costa began his career as a pianist with Bert Firman's band. He later became a popular British dance band singer in the 1930s making many records with bands such as Jack Jackson, Lew Stone, Harry Leader, Maurice Winnick and Jay Wilbur. After his crooning days, his BBC radio career began in 1939 with the It's That Man Again (ITMA) shows with Tommy Handley, in which he took the part of Lemuel the office boy.

Sam Costa died in London in 1981.

Filmography A Piece of Cake (1948) Trouble in the Air (1948) One Wild Oat (1951) The Pickwick Papers (1952) Just For You (1964) 1956 One Wish Too Many (A CFF film)