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. He then worked with Kenneth Horne, Richard Murdoch and Maurice Denham in "Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh".