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Russell Morgan (April 29, 1904 – August 7, 1969) (1992). 9780851129396, Guinness Publishing. ISBN 9780851129396 was an American big band leader and arranger during the 1930s and 1940s. He was best known for being one of the composers of the song "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", with Larry Stock and James Cavanaugh, and was the first to record it in 1944.
In the early 2020s, he regained popularity due to some of his music being sampled by the Caretaker on his albums An Empty Bliss Beyond This World and Everywhere at the End of Time, the latter of which plays loops of progressively degraded big band music to portray Alzheimer's disease. Some of Morgan's songs sampled by the Caretaker include “Goodnight my Beautiful” (sampled in "Libet's Delay" and "Back There Benjamin"), "Moonlight and Shadows" (sampled in "Childishly Fresh Eyes"), and "Room with a View" (sampled in "My Heart Will Stop in Joy").
At the age of 14, Morgan earned money as a pianist in a theater in Scranton. He purchased a trombone and learned to play it. In 1921, he played trombone with the Scranton Sirens, which became popular in Pennsylvania during the 1920s. Besides Morgan, several of its members became famous, including Jimmy Dorsey on saxophone and clarinet, Billy Lustig on violin, and Tommy Dorsey on trombone, taking Morgan's place when Morgan left the band.
After returning from Europe, Jean Goldkette invited Morgan to Detroit to lead his band. Some members of the Goldkette Orchestra were former associates. The band included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Chauncey Morehouse, Joe Venuti, Eddie Lang, Bix Beiderbecke, and Fuzzy Farrar.
Morgan's first records were made for OKeh Records in mid 1930 for Parlophone and Odeon Records, usually under the name "Russell Brown and his Orchestra". During the early 1930s, Morgan joined the group of anonymous studio groups recording pop tunes for the dime store labels, which included Banner Records, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect Records, Romeo Records, Conqueror, and Vocalion Records.
For a short time in 1934, Morgan arranged for Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. In 1935, he played trombone with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band when they recorded four sides for Vocalion. On September 12, 1935, Morgan, playing piano and Joe Venuti on violin recorded two sides for Brunswick: "Red Velvet" and "Black Satin". Most of the songs were written by Morgan and Venuti.
In the early 1930s, Morgan was in an automobile accident that almost ended his career. After several months in the hospital, he started again in New York City as an arranger for the George White Scandals, the Cotton Club Revue, and the Capitol Theatre. When not arranging for the Broadway theatre shows, Morgan worked as a pianist or trombonist with orchestras led by Phil Spitalny, Eddie Gilligan, Ted Fio Rito, and Freddy Martin.
Russ Morgan joined the Freddy Martin Orchestra in 1934 as a pianist but worked chiefly as a trombonist and arranger with the band. While with Martin's orchestra, he was music director at Brunswick in New York, where he met Shirley Gray, whom he married in 1939.
He hosted The Russ Morgan Show on the Mutual Broadcasting System beginning in September 1949. Originating from San Francisco, the show featured Morgan "as master of ceremonies of a program built around guest entertainers."
Russ Morgan's band had regular engagements at the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles; Claremont Resort, Berkeley, California; Edgewater Beach Hotel, Chicago; Aragon and Trianon, Chicago; Strand, Chicago; the Statler Hotel, New York; Orpheum, Los Angeles; and the Palladium in Hollywood.
Biggest hit singles (1986). 9780898200836, Record Research Inc.. ISBN 9780898200836
I'm in a Dancing Mood (vocal Red Jessup) (1936)
The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (vocal Jimmy Lewis) (1937)
The Dipsy Doodle (vocal Jimmy Lewis) (1937)
I Double Dare You (vocal Bernice Parks) (1938)
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen (vocal Bernice Parks) (1938)
I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams (vocal Russ Morgan) (1938)
The Lambeth Walk (vocal Jimmy Lewis) (1938)
Wishing (Will Make It So) (vocal Mert Curtis) (1939)
Somebody Else Is Taking My Place (vocal Morganaires) (1942)
Dance with a Dolly (vocal Al Jennings) (1944)
There Goes That Song Again (vocal Russ Morgan) (1944)
So Tired (vocal Russ Morgan) (1948)
Cruising Down the River (vocal Skylarks) (1949)
Sunflower (vocal Skylarks) (1949)
Forever and Ever (vocal Skylarks) (1949)
Morgan died from a hemorrhagic stroke in 1969 in Las Vegas at the age of 65. His son Jack took over leadership of the band. Morgan has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to recording.
Russ Morgan's " Were You Foolin'?" was also heavily popularized by Ultrakill, where a loop of the instrumental plays in the background while the player chooses upgrades or reads about different enemy types, though technically the song is credited under Bob Causer and His Cornellians (Russ' alias at the time).
Most of Morgan's most popular songs come from an album of previously unreleased songs that were released in 1978, nearly 10 years after his death. Among his most known songs are "Goodnight, My Beautiful", "Moonlight and Shadows", "So Tired", "Room With a View", "Moonlight Serenade", "To You", and "What Do You Know About Love?".
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