Loretta Lynn (Lorrie) Morgan
(born June 27, 1959, in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American country music singer. She is the daughter of George Morgan, a country music singer who charted several hit singles between 1949 and his death in 1975. Lorrie Morgan charted her first single in 1978, although she did not break into the the top of the U.S. country charts until her 1989 single, "Trainwreck of Emotion." Since then, she has charted more than 25 singles on the Billboard
Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, with three of those singles having reached #1: "Five Minutes", "What Part of No" and "I Didn't Know My Own Strength". She has also recorded more than 15 studio albums. At various points in her life, Morgan has been married to three different country singers: Keith Whitley, Jon Randall and Sammy Kershaw.
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Musical career
Morgan made her first appearance on the
Grand Ole Opry at age 13, performing Fred Spielman and Janice Torre's "
Paper Roses". Her father died when she was 16 years old. When her father died in 1975, she took over his band and began leading the group through various club gigs. Within a few years she disbanded the group, and in 1977 she went on to play with the
Little Roy Wiggins band. She then became a receptionist and demo singer at
Acuff-Rose Music, where she also wrote songs. In the late 1970s, she was the featured vocalist on a morning television show hosted by
Ralph Emery, on
Nashville's WSM-TV (now
WSMV); Emery was a longtime friend of her father, who appeared on Emery's,
Opry Star Spotlight
, an overnight music and interview show that ran for many years on
WSM-AM.
Morgan had one minor hit single in 1978; the following year another minor hit with, "I'm Completely Satisfied," an electronically dubbed duet with her late father. She began touring
Nashville nightclubs and opened for a number of acts, including
Jack Greene,
Billy Thunderkloud and
Jeannie Seely. She toured as a duet partner with
George Jones and spent two years as part of the
Opryland USA bluegrass show and as a regular singer on
TNN's
Nashville Now
.
In 1984, Morgan scored a minor hit with, "Don't Go Changing." That year she became the youngest singer ever to join the Grand Ole Opry.
[1] Four years later, she signed with
RCA Records, her first major label; her first album on that label,
Leave the Light On
was released in 1989.
RCA/BNA years
In 1990, Morgan had her first number one single, "Five Minutes." Morgan's second album,
Something in Red
, was released in 1991 and went platinum. The same year, she married her third husband, Brad Thompson,
Clint Black's bus driver.
Watch Me
, her third album, was released on RCA's newest label,
BNA Records; it contained the number-one single, "
What Part of No."
Watch Me
also was certified platinum, making Morgan the first female country artist to have three albums in a row to be certified platinum. Morgan's romantic life gained tabloid attention with
Dallas Cowboys quarterback
Troy Aikman following her second divorce.
She was voted, "Female Vocalist of the Year," by the fans in TNN's
Music City News Awards
, in 1994. She would earn this honor again in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Morgan also appeared on
Frank Sinatra's
Duets II album, singing a version of "How Do You Keep the Music Playing" intertwined with Sinatra's, "My Funny Valentine."
1995 saw the release of Morgan's
Greatest Hits
CD, which produced her third and, to date, last number-one single in the song, "I Didn't Know My Own Strength." The next year, Morgan was featured on the
Beach Boys' now
out-of-print album,
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1
, performing a cover of their 1964 hit, "Don't Worry Baby." The Beach Boys provided the harmonies and backing vocals. 2006 Lorrie appeared on the album "She was country when country wasn't cool-Barbara Mandrell"
Lorrie's new albums, "I Walk Alone" and "A Moment In Time" are expected to hit stores in October 2009.
Personal life
Morgan is known for her turbulent personal life — she told
Larry King in a July 2004 interview that, "drama is something that lets you know you're still alive."
[2]
She has a daughter, Morgan, from her first marriage. She has a son, Jesse Keith Whitley (b. 1987) with her second husband,
Keith Whitley. That marriage lasted from 1986 until his death in 1989. After that marriage, she had a lengthy involvement with
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman.
Morgan was also romantically linked from 1994 to 1996 with
Fred Thompson, the politician/actor. In her autobiography
Forever Yours, Faithfully: My Love Story
, Morgan describes their relationship:
Insert the text of the quote here, without quotation marks.
She married her fifth husband, singer
Sammy Kershaw, on September 29, 2001. That marriage lasted six years. Citing irreconcilable differences, she filed for divorce on October 23, 2007.
[4]
In October 2008, Morgan filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, citing up to $10 million in liabilities while listing her own assets as valued between $500,000 and $1 million.
[5]
Discography
;Studio albums
- 1989: Leave the Light on
- 1991: ''Something in Red
- 1992: Watch Me
- 1994: War Paint
- 1996: Greater Need
- 1997: Shakin' Things Up
- 1998: Secret Love
- 1999: My Heart
- 2004: Show Me How
- 2009: I Walk Alone
References
- Bufwack, Mary A. (1998). "Lorrie Morgan". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York Oxfor University Press. pp. 357-8.
- Larry King Live transcripts
- Forever Yours, Faithfully: My Love Story.
- Country singer Lorrie Morgan files for divorce from Sammy Kershaw after 6 years
- Country singer Lorrie Morgan files for bankruptcy