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.[1]
In 1950, he started hosting Record Rendezvous on the BBC, and also hosted The Sam Costa Show on Radio Luxembourg.[2] On Sundays he did both Breakfast Time and Glamorous Nights and he also presented Housewives' Choiceand Midday Spin, transitioning to BBC Radio 2 from 1967. On BBC Radio 2, he had various shows: morning, lunchtime, afternoon, early evening, and late night. Costa would sign off saying "Thank you for the pleasure of your company".[1]
On Radio Luxembourg in the early 1960s, he hosted an hour-long show sponsored by Guards Cigarettes. Along with Kenneth Horne, Costa also appeared in an episode of The Men from the Ministry which co-starred Richard Murdoch. While he generally disliked TV work, Costa did appear on several Juke Box Jury shows. In 1964, he linked a musical short film, Just for You which featured some prominent "pop" bands of the day, including The Applejacks and Freddie and the Dreamers. Costa was also a regular on David Frost's Frost on Sunday in 1970.
He married Esther Comer in 1938; they were married for over 40 years. He was the great-uncle of the radio presenter Andy Jacobs.[3]
