Biography
12 September 1924, Mansfield, Texas, USA, d. 16 October 1999, Bullhead City, Arizona, USA. A singer with an appealing jazz/blues style, Morse first sang with a band organized by her pianist mother and her father who was a drummer. At the age of 12 she was heard at a Houston jam session by Jimmy Dorsey, who hired her as replacement for June Richmond. Her stay with Dorsey was a brief one, and she returned to Texas and sang with local bands. Subsequently she was heard singing in a San Diego club by Freddie Slack, who had been the pianist when she was with the Dorsey band. He signed her as the vocalist on his first Capitol Records recording session in 1942, which resulted in ‘Cow-Cow Boogie’ (composed by Gene De Paul and Don Raye). The record became a million-seller, and Morse had further hits in the 40s with ‘Mr. Five By Five’, ‘Shoo Shoo Baby’, ‘Tess’ Torch Song (If I Had A Man)’, ‘Milkman, Keep Those Bottles...
Read the Full Biography of Ella Mae Morse
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