Helen Noga

American manager, known for discovering and managing Johnny Mathis. Born April 12, 1914, in Fresno, California, to Armenian parents Haig and Queenie Safarjian, raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Died April 8, 2002, at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. In the mid-1950s, Noga and her husband, John Noga (died 1999), owned two San Francisco jazz clubs, the The Blackhawk, San Francisco, and The Downbeat Club, San Francisco, where Noga discovered Mathis, helped him get signed to Columbia via George Avakian, and became his manager. The Nogas and Mathis relocated to Beverly Hills in summer 1958. In October 1964, Mathis sued Noga to void their management arrangement. Noga also worked with Phil Spector, and helped found and fund Philles Records.