Russ Morgan
b. 29 April 1904, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 7 August 1969. A popular bandleader, particularly during the '30s and '40s, who also wrote several durable songs, Morgan worked as a coalminer to finance his music lessons, becoming proficient on trombone and piano, as well as developing into a good arranger. After playing piano in local theatres, he switched to trombone, and in 1921 joined Billy Lustig's Scranton Sirens. He moved to New York in the early '20s and arranged for Victor Herbert and John Philip Sousa, then toured Europe with the Paul Specht band. In 1926 he joined Jean Goldkette in Detroit as an arranger, and then served briefly as musical director for radio station WXYX in Detroit. He spent the late '20s and early '30s in New York, and arranged for top names, Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, the Dorsey Brothers and the Boswell Sisters, and wrote for Harlem's Cotton Club revues. 
In 1934 he joined Freddy Martin as trombonist-arranger, and developed his distinctive muted, wah-wah style. He formed his own hotel-style band in 1935 with the aid of Rudy Vallee, and played important engagements at the Biltmore Hotels in New York and Los Angeles, and the Edgewater Hotel in Chicago. Morgan developed a very relaxed, easy style as a leader, along with his distinctive smooth singing voice, which was particularly effective on radio. With his tag-line, ‘Music In The Morgan Manner’, and his theme, Does Your Heart Beat For Me?, he featured on network radio in The Rinso Show, The Lifebuoy Show, and The Philip Morris Program. During the early part of World War II he lived on the west coast, playing a long engagement at the Claremont Hotel, Berkeley, California, and in 1946 he went into the Biltmore Bowl for a two-year run, and made several tours of eastern USA. 
He had been recording with his own band since 1935, and had a string of US Top 10 hits through to 1948, including, Tidal Wave, Love Me Forever, In A Little Gypsy Tea Room, I'm In A Dancing Mood, When The Poppies Bloom Again, The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (number 1), Stop! You're Breaking My Heart, So Many Memories, Farewell My Love, The Dipsy Doodle, I Double Dare You, Bei Mir Bist Du Shoën, Will You Remember Tonight Tomorrow ?, I've Got A Pocketful Of Dreams (number 1), Lambeth Walk, Wishing (Will Make It So), Goodnight Wherever You Are, Dance With A Dolly (With A Hole In Her Stocking), There Goes That Song Again and I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover. Morgan was steady, rather than sensational, so it is not clear why, in 1949, he should suddenly become the year's number 1 recording artist, with hits such as Forever And Ever (number 1), So Tired, Sunflower, Johnson Rag and Cruising Down The River (number 1, and the winner of a UK amateur songwriting contest, and his only million-seller). Morgan's own catalogue of songs, co-written with various composer-lyricists included Somebody Else Is Taking My Place, Flower Of Dawn, Please Think Of Me, Sweet Eloise, You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You, So Tired, Does Your Heart Beat For Me?, So Long (his closing theme), Whisper, California Orange Blossom, Don't Cry Sweetheart, Goodnight Little Angel and It's All Over But The Crying. 
During the '50s Morgan appeared extensively on television, and had his own show in 1956 which featured ex-Jimmy Dorsey vocalist Helen O'Connell. Despite the general demise of the big bands he maintained his 17-piece unit until 1960, when he reorganized, and with a 12-piece unit played dates around Los Angeles. In 1965 he made his home in Las Vegas, and played regularly at ‘The Top Of The Strip’ in the Dunes Hotel. His band was still playing there when he died in 1969, after a short illness following a stroke. His son Jack, who had been with the band for 10 years, replaced him as leader.