Marion Morgan (born Marion Swires; December 14, 1923 – October 21, 2013)[1][2][3] was an American vocalist who sang with big band leader Harry James.[4]

Career

Born in Detroit, Michigan,[5][1] Morgan was billed as Lee Barrie when she sang on the Pacific Coast. She changed her name at the suggestion of bandleader Russ Morgan.[6]

Morgan had a 15-minute Monday to Friday morning program on WMGM radio in New York City in 1951. A review in the trade publication Billboard said that she "exhibited a professional adequacy but little more" on the show.[7] Radio-TV Mirror magazine reported in its May 1952 issue that she "has been concentrating on night-club dates and has been playing the supper club circuit around the country."[8]

In the 1960s, Morgan was "hostess-singer-interviewer" for the Panorama Pacific program on KNXT in Los Angeles, California.[9]

Personal life

While performing with Harry James, Marion Morgan fell in love with Sidney J. Beller (1913–1991), the band's road manager, who decided to leave his job just before Morgan left in 1949. Beller and Morgan were married in Las Vegas on October 7, 1949.[10][11] They had two children: Jay Howard Beller, born November 21, 1957,[12] and Julie Lenore Beller.

Selected discography

References

General references

  • The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950, Three volumes, by Roger Davis Kinkle (1916–2000), Arlington House Publishers, New Rochelle, NY (1974) OCLC 897890; ISBN 0870002295; ISBN 9780870002298

Inline citations

  1. 1 2 "Success Story". The Des Moines Register. Des Moines, Iowa. August 26, 1951. p. 53. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  2. ↑ U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2 [database on-line]. Original data: Voter Registration Lists, Public Record Filings, Historical Residential Records, and Other Household Database Listings.
  3. ↑ "Marion Morgan". BandChirps. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  4. 1 2 Tim, Gayle (November 30, 1946). "The Band Beat" (PDF). Radio-Vision. p. 7. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Marion Morgan Sings With James". The Birmingham Post. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1948. p. 9. Retrieved December 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ↑ "Video Vignette". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 28, 1950. p. 69. Retrieved July 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Wexler, Jerry (March 3, 1951). "Marion Morgan Show". Billboard. p. 6. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  8. ↑ "What's New from Coast to Coast" (PDF). Radio-TV Mirror. 37 (6): 28. May 1952. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Resnik, Bert (April 26, 1964). "Marion Morgan Turned Deaf Ear to Top Brass". Independent. California, Long Beach. Independent Press-Telegram. p. 127. Retrieved April 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  10. ↑ Marriages: Beller–Morgan, Billboard Magazine, pg. 28, October 22, 1949
  11. ↑ Peter J. Levinson, Trumpet Blues: The Life if Harry James, Oxford University Press (1999) OCLC 40610134; ISBN 0195110307; ISBN 9780195110302
  12. ↑ "Singer Marion Morgan Gives Birth To Boy". The la Crosse Tribune. Wisconsin, La Crosse. The La Crosse Tribune. November 22, 1957. p. 9. Retrieved April 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ↑ Mansfield, Andy (March 30, 1947). "Record Notes to You" (PDF). Radio Life. p. 32. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
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