Jaye P. Morgan is a retired popular music American singer, actress and game
show panelist. Biography
= Early life= Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma
County in far southwestern Colorado, but her family moved to California by the
time she was in high school. Morgan had six siblings; five brothers and one
sister. In the late 1940s, at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga in Los
Angeles, she served as class treasurer and sang at school assemblies,
accompanied by her brother on guitar. = 1950s=
In 1950, a year after her graduation from high school, Morgan made a
recording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued by Derby Records, 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. She joined MGM Records in 1959
after spending the previous six years with RCA Victor.
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 shows. 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. = 1960s and 1970s=
In 1961, Morgan was cast as Sally Dwight in the episode "Money and the Minister"
of the CBS anthology series, General Electric Theater, hosted by Ronald
Reagan. In 1962, she played Patty Maxwell in "Patti's Tune" of the CBS
military sitcom/drama Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper. That same year, she was
cast as Kitty Flanders in "That's Showbiz" on NBC's The Joey Bishop Show.
In 1964, Morgan was cast as Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the
NBC medical drama, The Eleventh Hour. She spent considerable time in the 1960s
making nightclub appearances. In 1966, she guest starred on CBS's My Three Sons
as fading singer Claudia Farrell in the episode entitled "A Falling Star".
In 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcom,
The Odd Couple. She appeared as Magda Valentine in the film The All-American
Boy, and continued to play small roles in films such as Loose Shoes, Night
Patrol and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
Morgan guest starred on The Muppet Show in which she and Dr. Teeth sang "That
Old Black Magic." = Game show panelist=
From 1976 to 1978, Morgan was a regular panelist on the popular game/variety
show The Gong Show. She also appeared on 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, and with her
former Gong partner Jamie Farr on Hollywood Squares Game Show Week II in
2004. Morgan appeared in the 2002 George
Clooney-directed film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a fictionalized version
of the life of Chuck Barris, creator of TV game shows The Gong Show and The
Dating Game. Singles
Albums References
External links The official website of Jaye P. Morgan
Jaye P. Morgan at AllMusic Jaye P. Morgan discography at Discogs
Jaye P. Morgan at the Internet Movie Database