Quick Facts
Biography
Samuel Gabriel 'Sam' Costa (17 June 1910 – 23 September 1981) was a popular singer of the British dance band era and a voice actor on the show Much Binding in the Marsh. He was also a disc jockey for Radio Luxembourg and the BBC.
Life
Costa was of Sephardic Jewish-Portuguese ancestry (Costa is a Portuguese surname). The son of journalist Gabriel Costa and Annie (née Sawer), he married Esther Comer in 1938, and they were married for over 40 years until he died in 1981. He was the great uncle of the radio presenter Andy Jacobs.
Career
Sam Costa began as a pianist with Bert Firman's band and later became a popular British dance band singer in the 1930s making many records with bands such as Lew Stone, Harry Leader, Maurice Winnick and Jay Wilbur.
After his crooning days, his BBC radio career began with the It's That Man Again (ITMA) shows with Tommy Handley, then he worked with Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch and Maurice Denham in Much Binding in the Marsh. On Sundays he did both Breakfast Time and Glamorous Nights and he also presented Housewives' Choice and Midday Spin, transitioning to BBC Radio 2 from 1967. Costa would sign off saying "Thank you for the pleasure of your company".
While he generally disliked TV work, he did appear on several Juke Box Jury shows.
On BBC Radio 2 he had various shows, morning, lunchtime, afternoon, drivetime, till 1981
Filmography
- A Piece of Cake (1948)
- One Wild Oat (1951)
- The Pickwick Papers (1952)