Jaye P. Morgan

• Name — Jaye P. Morgan • Birth Name — Mary Margaret Morgan • Born — 3 December 1931 • Birthplace — Mancos, Colorado, U.S. • Died — 24 August 2026 • Place of death — Longview, Washington, U.S. • Occupation — Singer, actress • Years Active — 1951–1992

Mary Margaret Morgan was born in Mancos, Montezuma County, in far southwestern Colorado on December 3, 1931. 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 the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles, she served as class treasurer (and got the nickname Jaye P. after the banker J. P. Morgan) and sang at school assemblies, accompanied by her brother on guitar.

• Illustration — Morgan was not the only vocalist in her family. Three of her brothers were also singers. From top: Duke, Dick, and Charlie with Jaye P., for a 1959 appearance on The Jimmy Dean Show. In 1953, Morgan made a recording of "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" issued by Derby Records, which made it to #26 on the U.S. Billboard record chart. Soon after, she received an RCA Victor recording contract, and she had five hits in one year, including her biggest hit "That's All I Want from You", which reached #3 on the chart. Her other notable hits included "There's a Dream in My Heart" by Rolande Maxwell Young, "The Longest Walk", and "Pepper Hot Baby". After spending six years with RCA Victor, Morgan joined MGM Records in 1959. 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. Beginning January 11, 1954, she was a featured singer on the Robert Q. Lewis Show on CBS-TV. In 1956, she had her own show, 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 Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. On October 6, 1960, she guest starred on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford. 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, she portrayed the character Ruth Evans in the episode "Sunday Father" of the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour. Although Morgan continued to spend considerable time in the 1960s and 1970s performing in nightclubs, she also continued to make additional appearances on television as well as in films. In 1964, she guest-starred on CBS's My Three Sons as Susan Duvall in the episode "Second Chorus" and in 1966 "A Falling Star", playing the fading singer Claudia Farrell. Later, in 1973, Morgan played herself in the episode "The Songwriter" of the sitcom The Odd Couple. That year she also appeared as Magda Valentine in the film The All-American Boy. She performed the theme song, "Coming into My Own", of the short-lived NBC situation comedy Fay, starring Lee Grant, which aired from 1975 to 1976. In 1978, Morgan guest-starred on The Muppet Show and sang "That Old Black Magic" as a duet with Dr. Teeth. Morgan made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson during this period, and in the 1980s and into the early 1990s she performed again in movies, working in supportive roles in films such as Loose Shoes (1980), Night Patrol (1984), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).

One of Morgan's first appearances as a game show panelist was on the 1970 pilot for "The Honeymoon Game" (a re-working of earlier pilots for The Joker's Wild). She represented the category of Music on the show, asking questions of the contestants in that category. From 1976 to 1978, Morgan was a regular panelist on The Gong Show, in which she achieved notoriety for flashing her breasts while on live camera during a Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine performance. NBC banned her from the program for the flashing incident. Morgan appeared as herself in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, a 2003 semi-biographical film about the life of Chuck Barris, creator of The Gong Show, The Dating Game, and The Newlywed Game.

Morgan was married three times. She was married briefly to Michael Baiano from 1954 to 1955; then to Chuck Kelly, and lastly to Artie Kane, a musician. She had one son, who died in 2020. Morgan died from injuries sustained in a fall at a hospital in Longview, Washington, on August 24, 2026, at the age of 94.

• Year — Title — Label and Number • 1953 — Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") — Royale 18122 • 1954 — Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") — Royale 18147 • 1954 — Jaye P. Morgan and Orchestra (10") — Royale 18162 • 1955 — Jaye P. Morgan Sings with Frank DeVol's Orchestra — Allegro Royale 1604 • 1956 — Jaye P. Morgan — RCA Victor LPM-1155 • 1958 — Just You, Just Me — RCA Victor LSP-1682 • 1959 — Slow & Easy — MGM E3774 • 1960 — Up North — MGM E3830 • 1960 — Down South — MGM E3867 • 1961 — That Country Sound — MGM E3940 • 1962 — Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries — Tops Mayfair 9739 • 1970 — What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life — Beverly Hills BHS-24 • 1976 — Jaye P. Morgan — Candor C-1001 • 1983 — Lately! — Palace PLP-S6540 • 1995 — Jaye P. Morgan & Kaye Ballard – Long Time Friends — AVL-95320

• Year — Single (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated — Chart positions — Album • U.S. — US Cashbox — U.S. AC • 1953 — "Just a Gigolo" b/w "Wasted Tears" — 22 — Jaye P. Morgan (Rondo-Lette label) • 1954 — "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" b/w "Operator 299" — 26 — 45 • "Ring Telephone Ring" b/w "Don't Tell Him" • "Nobody Met the Train" b/w "Life Was Made for Living" • "I Ain't Got the Man" b/w "Baby Don't Do It" • "That's All I Want from You" b/w "Dawn" — 3 — 6 — Non-album tracks • 1955 — "Danger! Heartbreak Ahead" / — 12 — 14 • "Softly Softly" — flip — 42 • "Have You Ever Been Lonely?" b/w "Life Was Made for Living" — The House Of Jaye P. Morgan • "Chee Chee-oo Chee" (with Perry Como) / — 12 — 17 — Non-album tracks • "Two Lost Souls" (with Perry Como) — 18 — 26 • "The Longest Walk" / — 6 — 12 • "Swanee" — flip — 48 • "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" b/w "Just a Gigolo" — The House of Jaye P. Morgan • "Baby Don't Do It" b/w "Nobody Met the Train" • "If You Don't Want My Love" / — 12 — 33 — Non-album tracks • "Pepper Hot Baby" — 14 — 19 • "Not One Goodbye" / — 48 • "My Bewildered Heart" — 47 • 1956 — "Get Up! Get Up!" / — 83 • "Sweet Lips" — 85 • "Lost in the Shuffle" / — 69 • "Play for Keeps" — 79 • "Johnny Casanova" b/w "The West Point Dress Parade" — 81 • "Just Love Me" b/w "The Call of the Wild" — 97 • "Mutual Admiration Society" b/w "If'n" Both sides with Eddy Arnold — 47 — 24 • 1957 — "I Thought It Was Over" b/w "Pledge Allegiance to Your Heart" • "Graduation Ring" b/w "You, You Romeo" • "There's a Dream in My Heart" b/w "Take a Chance" • 1958 — "Tell Me More" b/w "My Blind Date" • "I Know, I Know, I Know" b/w "I Love You So Much It Hurts" Both sides with The Morgan Brothers • "Star Dust" (with The Morgan Brothers) b/w "Easy Does It" • 1959 — "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" / — 65 — 67 • "Miss You" — 78 — 63 • "(It Took) One Kiss" b/w "My Reputation" — 70 • "Somebody Else Is Taking My Place" b/w "Somebody Loses, Somebody Wins" • "That Funny Feeling" b/w "Left My Gal in the Mountains" — 112 • "My Darling, My Darling" b/w "Thoughts of Love" • 1960 — "Half as Much" b/w "I Don't Want to Walk Without You" — That Country Sound • "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" b/w "I Understand" — Non-album tracks • "I Walk the Line" b/w "Wondering Where You Are" (Non-album track) — 66 — 55 — That Country Sound • "When You Get What You Want" b/w "A World I Can't Live In" • 1961 — "Catch Me a Kiss" b/w "Close Your Eyes" — Non-album tracks • 1962 — "A Heartache Named Johnny" b/w "He Thinks I Still Care" — 119 • 1965 — "Put a Ring on My Finger" b/w "Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" • 1970 — "Love of a Gentle Man" b/w "Billy Sunshine" — 37 — What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life • "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" b/w "Applause" — 40 • "I've Got an Awful Lot of Losing You to Do" b/w "He's Too Good For Me" • 1971 — "A Song for You" b/w "Do You Really Have a Heart" (from What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life) — 105 — 108 — Non-album track