Jaye P. Morgan
Encyclopedia
Mary Margaret Morgan known professionally as Jaye P. Morgan, is a retired popular music
American
singer, actress and game show
panelist.
in far southwestern Colorado, but her family moved to California
by the time she was in high school
. In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School
in Tujunga, Los Angeles, California, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after the banker J. Pierpont Morgan) and sang at school assemblies, accompanied by her brother on guitar
.
of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
" which made it to the Top 10 in the U.S.
Billboard
record chart
. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor
recording contract
, and she had five hits
in one year, including "That's All I Want from You
," her biggest hit, which reached #3 on the chart. Other notable hits included "The Longest Walk" and "Pepper Hot Baby". In 1954, she married Michael Baiano.
From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on the ABC
television series show Stop the Music
. In November 1955, the British
music magazine, NME
, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll.
In 1956, she had her own The Jaye P. Morgan Show and made guest appearances on a number of other variety show
s. She was a charter member of the Robert Q. Lewis
"gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS, and was featured on a special episode of The Jackie Gleason Show
in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared on ABC
's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
.
appearances and a guest starring role on "My Three Sons" as a fading singer, Morgan returned to the public eye in the 1970s, mainly as an actress. She played herself on a 1973 episode ("The Songwriter") of the sitcom
, The Odd Couple
.
Morgan also guest starred on The Muppet Show
(episode 2.18) in which she and Dr. Teeth sang "That Old Black Magic."
and Rhyme and Reason
and Match Game
and in the 1980 "behind-the-scenes" movie version of The Gong Show. She also appeared on the Playboy Channel game show Everything Goes. She also appeared with her longtime Gong partner Jamie Farr
on Hollywood Squares
Game Show Week II in 2004.
She also appeared in the 2002 George Clooney-directed film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
a version on the life of Chuck Barris
, author of TV game shows such as the Gong Show and The Dating Game
.
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, actress and game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
panelist.
Early life
Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma CountyMontezuma County, Colorado
Montezuma County is the southwesternmost of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado of the United States. The county population was 23,830 at U.S. Census 2000...
in far southwestern Colorado, but her family moved to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
by the time she was in high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
. In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School
Verdugo Hills High School
Verdugo Hills High School is a public school located in the Tujunga community of Los Angeles, California, United States within the Los Angeles Unified School District....
in Tujunga, Los Angeles, California, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname "Jaye P." after the banker J. Pierpont Morgan) and sang at school assemblies, accompanied by her brother on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
.
1950s
In 1950, a year after graduation from high school, Morgan made a recordingSound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" is a popular song with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, published in 1931. The song was revived in 1953 by singer Jaye P...
" which made it to the Top 10 in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
record chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
, and she had five hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
in one year, including "That's All I Want from You
That's All I Want from You
"That's All I Want from You" is a popular song by Fritz Rotter , published in 1955.The song was recorded by a number of artists, but became a major hit for Jaye P. Morgan, reaching #3 on the Billboard chart in the United States...
," her biggest hit, which reached #3 on the chart. Other notable hits included "The Longest Walk" and "Pepper Hot Baby". In 1954, she married Michael Baiano.
From 1954 to 1955, Morgan was a vocalist on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series show Stop the Music
Stop the Music (TV series)
Stop the Music is a prime time television game show that aired for an hour on Thursday evenings on ABC from May 5, 1949 to April 24, 1952, and again for a half-hour from September 7, 1954, to June 14, 1956. It had also been broadcast on radio from 1948 to 1949.The series hosts were Bert Parks and...
. In November 1955, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
music magazine, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, reported that Morgan was the top female vocalist in the U.S. Cash Box poll.
In 1956, she had her own The Jaye P. Morgan Show and made guest appearances on a number of other variety show
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
s. She was a charter member of the Robert Q. Lewis
Robert Q. Lewis
Robert Q. Lewis was an American radio and television personality, game show host, and actor. Lewis added the middle initial "Q." to his name accidentally on the air in 1942, when he responded to a reference to radio comedian F. Chase Taylor's character, Colonel Lemuel Q...
"gang" on Lewis's weekday program on CBS, and was featured on a special episode of The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show
The Jackie Gleason Show is the name of a series of popular American network television shows that starred Jackie Gleason, which ran from 1952 to 1970.-Cavalcade of Stars:...
in which Lewis's entire company substituted for the vacationing Gleason. In 1958, Morgan appeared on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom
The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom is a half-hour variety show that aired on ABC from October 3, 1957 to June 23, 1960, starring the young singer Pat Boone and a host of top-name guest stars. The program was of course sponsored by Chevrolet...
. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
.
1960s and 1970s
After a period in the 1960s when she did little in the entertainment field, confining herself to a small number of nightclubNightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
appearances and a guest starring role on "My Three Sons" as a fading singer, Morgan returned to the public eye in the 1970s, mainly as an actress. She played herself on a 1973 episode ("The Songwriter") of the sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
, The Odd Couple
The Odd Couple (TV series)
The Odd Couple is a television situation comedy broadcast from September 24, 1970 to July 4, 1975 on ABC. It starred Tony Randall as Felix Unger and Jack Klugman as Oscar Madison. It was based upon the play of the same name, which was written by Neil Simon.Felix and Oscar are two divorced men....
.
Morgan also guest starred on The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show
The Muppet Show is a British television programme produced by American puppeteer Jim Henson and featuring Muppets. After two pilot episodes were produced in 1974 and 1975, the show premiered on 5 September 1976 and five series were produced until 15 March 1981, lasting 120 episodes...
(episode 2.18) in which she and Dr. Teeth sang "That Old Black Magic."
Game show panelist
In the 1970s, Morgan was a panelist on the game/variety shows The Gong ShowThe Gong Show
The Gong Show is an amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976 through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976–1980 and 1988–1989. The show was produced by Chuck Barris, who also served...
and Rhyme and Reason
Rhyme and Reason
Rhyme and Reason is an American television game show that aired on ABC from July 7, 1975 through July 9, 1976. Bob Eubanks hosted the show, with Johnny Jacobs serving as announcer.-Gameplay:...
and Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
and in the 1980 "behind-the-scenes" movie version of The Gong Show. She also appeared on the Playboy Channel game show Everything Goes. She also appeared with her longtime Gong partner Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr
Jamie Farr is an American television, film, and theater actor. He is best known for having played the role of cross-dressing Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger in the television sitcom M*A*S*H.-Early life:...
on Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
Game Show Week II in 2004.
She also appeared in the 2002 George Clooney-directed film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind is a 2002 biographical spy film depicting the life of popular game show host and producer Chuck Barris, who claimed to have also been an assassin for the Central Intelligence Agency...
a version on the life of Chuck Barris
Chuck Barris
Charles Hirsch "Chuck" Barris is an American game show producer, film director and presenter best known for hosting The Gong Show and creating The Dating Game. Barris, a survivor of lung cancer, is also an author and claims to have worked for the CIA.-Early career:Barris was born in Oakland, New...
, author of TV game shows such as the Gong Show and The Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
.
Singles
| Year | Single | Chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
|||||
| 1953 | "Just a Gigolo" | 22 | ||||
| "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" is a popular song with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, published in 1931. The song was revived in 1953 by singer Jaye P... " |
26 | |||||
| 1954 | "That's All I Want From You That's All I Want from You "That's All I Want from You" is a popular song by Fritz Rotter , published in 1955.The song was recorded by a number of artists, but became a major hit for Jaye P. Morgan, reaching #3 on the Billboard chart in the United States... " |
3 | ||||
| 1955 | "Danger! Heartbreak Ahead" | 12 | ||||
| "Softly Softly" | flip | |||||
| "Chee Chee-oo Chee Chee Chee-Oo Chee (Sang the Little Bird) "Chee Chee-Oo Chee " is a popular song with music by Saverio Seracini , the original Italian language lyrics by Ettore Minoretti, and English lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons, published in 1955.A number of recorded versions were made in 1955, but the Perry Como/Jaye... "(with Perry Como Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr... ) |
12 | |||||
| "Two Lost Souls"(with Perry Como Perry Como Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr... ) |
18 | |||||
| "The Longest Walk" | 6 | |||||
| "Swanee" | flip | |||||
| "If You Don't Want My Love" | 12 | |||||
| "Pepper Hot Baby" | 14 | |||||
| "Not One Goodbye" | 48 | |||||
| 1956 | "Get Up! Get Up!" | 83 | ||||
| "Sweet Lips" | 85 | |||||
| "Lost In the Shuffle" | 69 | |||||
| "Play For Keeps" | 79 | |||||
| "Johnny Casanova" | 81 | |||||
| "Just Love Me" | 97 | |||||
| "Mutual Admiration Society Mutual Admiration Society (song) "Mutual Admiration Society" is a popular song published in 1956 from the Broadway musical Happy Hunting. The song's tune was written by Harold Karr, the lyrics by Matt Dubey.-The song:... "(with Eddy Arnold Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more... ) |
47 | |||||
| 1959 | "Are You Lonesome Tonight" | 65 | ||||
| "Miss You" | 78 | |||||
| 1960 | "I Walk the Line I Walk the Line "I Walk the Line" is a song written by Johnny Cash and recorded in 1956. It was performed with the help of Marshall Grant and Luther Perkins, two mechanics that his brother introduced him to following his discharge from the Air Force. Cash and his wife, Vivian, were living in Memphis, Tennessee,... " |
66 | ||||
| 1962 | "A Heartache Named Johnny" | |||||
| 1970 | "Love of a Gentle Man" | 37 | ||||
| "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" | 40 | |||||
| 1971 | "A Song For You" | |||||
External links
- The official website of Jaye P. Morgan
- Jaye P. Morgan on the Internet Movie Database
- Biography on the MSN site
- Filmography on the MSN site
- [ Allmusic]