Broadway Icon Jane Morgan Dies at 101, Leaves ‘Fascination’ Legacy
Hi, I’m Avery Sinclair, your resident skeptic who refuses to sugarcoat anything – especially obituaries. Can’t say I’m moved to tears, but let’s give credit where it’s due.
Jane Morgan, whose smooth vocals on the 1957 hit Fascination cemented her place in pop history, passed away peacefully in her sleep at age 101 in Naples, Florida, according to Deadline. The family confirmed that the former Florence Catherine Currier, born May 3, 1924, in Newton, Massachusetts, succumbed to natural causes on a quiet Monday morning. No dramatic last words, no final mic drop – just a century of breathing finally calling it quits.
She was the youngest of five children raised by music-loving parents Bertram and Olga Currier. Starting out in local theater at age 11 at the Kennebunkport Playhouse in Maine, Morgan eventually polished her chops at Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then Juilliard’s opera program in New York City. It was orchestra leader Art Mooney who slapped the stage name Jane Morgan on her, and the rest is chart history.
Before she headlined glamorous Parisian nightclubs under French bandleader Bernard Hilda’s wing, Morgan was just another hopeful singing in smoky small rooms. Europe fell for her sultry style, so she bounced back to the US and inked a deal with Kapp Records. Her debut LP, The American Girl From Paris, dropped in 1956 and set the stage for her signature single Fascination featuring The Troubadors. The tune climbed to number 7 on Billboard’s pop chart and even scored a spot in the Audrey Hepburn romance Love in the Afternoon.
As if dominating records weren’t enough, Morgan also conquered Broadway. Audiences saw her light up classics like Mame, Can Can, Kiss Me Kate and The King and I, with stops in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the Ziegfeld Follies. “Being on Broadway was one of the most exciting things in my life because I had always dreamed of it,” she once quipped, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Television producers couldn’t get enough either. Morgan delivered 50 appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed twice at the Oscars. She even serenaded world leaders, belting out tunes for French President Charles de Gaulle and US Presidents from John F. Kennedy to George H.W. Bush.
In 2011, the Hollywood Walk of Fame finally gave her a star – better late than never – where she crooned Fascination and thanked fans for sticking around. On the personal front, she married twice, most notably to manager-turned-producer Jerry Weintraub in 1965. Together they adopted three daughters and she became stepmother to his son Michael. The pair separated in the 1980s but remained legally bound until Weintraub’s death in 2015.
So that wraps up the life of Jane Morgan: juiced the spotlight, belted out hits, hit every major stage and screen, and lived a century without losing her cool. Nothing more to see here, folks – just another singer gracefully bowing out. And that’s your dose of reality. You’re welcome.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and New York Post, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter
Attribution: Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer (Creative Commons)
