Jaye P. Morgan, the singer and game-show fixture who flashed the nation on “The Gong Show,” has died at 94.
The recording artist, whose five hits in 1955 made her one of the top female vocalists of that era, died Monday of natural causes in Longview, Washington, according to Mark Sendroff, her longtime attorney and friend. She had been living with her nephew and niece, Duke Morgan Spencer and Peggy Sue Spencer.
Morgan’s Top 10 hits included “That’s All I Want From You” and “The Longest Walk.” Her Top 20 singles were “Danger! Heartbreak Ahead,” “If You Don’t Want My Love” and “Pepper-Hot Baby.” She also scored two Top 20 duets with Perry Como, “Chee Chee-Oo Chee (Sang the Little Bird)” and “Two Lost Souls,” plus the No. 47 hit “Mutual Admiration Society” with Eddy Arnold.
Born Mary Margaret Morgan in a log cabin in Mancos, Colorado, she entered show business at age 3 as part of the Morgan Family, a traveling vaudeville act that included her mother, father, sister and five brothers. The group dissolved after her father’s death in 1945. Her California high school classmates nicknamed her J.P. After financier J.P. Morgan; she later feminized it to Jaye.
By 17 she was singing professionally, and in 1950 she joined Frank De Vol’s orchestra for a three-year stint. Her recording career launched with “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries” and “Just a Gigolo” on Derby Records, which reached No. 26 and caught RCA Records’ attention. In 1954, DownBeat magazine’s annual DJ poll named her best new female singer.
She landed her own television program, “The Jaye P. Morgan Show,” in 1956, featuring four of her brothers. Her nightclub act took her to Las Vegas, where she debuted at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino. Solo albums included “Jaye P. Morgan,” produced by David Foster, “Jaye P. Morgan Lately!” and a joint release with Kaye Ballard titled “Long Time Friends.”
Morgan became a regular on “The Tonight Show,” returning to Johnny Carson for five years. “I take my body everyplace I go,” she joked to the host in a 1972 episode. She guested on “The Odd Couple” playing herself and singing “Happy, Peppy and Bursting with Love.”
In the viral moment that would define her later fame, Morgan was serving as a celebrity judge alongside Jamie Farr and Rip Taylor on “The Gong Show” starting in 1976 when she opened her shirt to expose her breasts during an appearance by Eugene Patton, the dancing stagehand known as Gene Gene the Dancing Machine. The incident helped bring the show’s NBC run to an end in 1978.
“It paid good money, and it was great exposure. I really enjoyed it,” she told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.
Her film credits included “The All-American Boy” with Jon Voight, “Loose Shoes,” “The Gong Show Movie,” “Night Patrol” and George Clooney’s 2002 Miramax release “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.” She also appeared in “Home Alone 2” with Macaulay Culkin, and co-starred with Eddie Bracken in the national tour of “Sugar Babies.”
During a memorable “Muppet Show” episode, Morgan appeared in a bird costume and traded barbs with Kermit. When the frog told her it was a thrill to have her on, she replied: “I’m really indifferent about being here.” Kermit called the opening number cute. “I hate cute,” Morgan shot back.
Married and divorced three times, Morgan is survived by her son, Paul Kane.