Her parents were from Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Province of Catania, Sicily, Italy. She grew up in New York City with five siblings. Her father, who owned a coal and ice business, played the piano and guitar by ear. Her family experienced a difficult financial period after her father died.
Around the age of thirteen her vocal gifts were recognized when she was overheard singing the aria "I'll See You Again" from Noël Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet. At age 16 she developed a love for big bands. A scholarship to the Metropolitan School of Music soon followed.
Her professional singing career began at age sixteen as Morgana King. When she sang in a Greenwich Village nightclub in 1953, a record label executive took interest after being impressed with the unique phrasing and multi-octave range. Three years later in 1956, her first album, For You, For Me, For Evermore, was released.
In the first appearance of Leonard G. Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz (1960), Morgana King stated that her ambition was "… to become a dramatic actress." She began her acting career in The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, as Carmela Corleone, wife of Don Vito Corleone. In the film, she sang the song "Luna mezzo mare". King appeared as herself in the television documentary The Godfather: Behind the Scenes (1971). She reprised the role in The Godfather: Part II (1974), where her character dies aged 62, due to natural causes.
King headlined clubs, concert halls and hotels, and toured throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and South America.
A few of the venue performances during her active career: the March 1956 Easter Jazz Festival at Town Hall in New York City; she opened Trude Heller's in July 1957 and returned throughout her career for anniversary performances; four months later, in November 1957, along with seven female jazz instrumentalists, she performed at the Jazz Female concert held at Carnegie Recital Hall; the Schaefer Music Festival in June 1976; A Tribute to Billie Holiday at the Hollywood Bowl in July 1979; the AIDS Research – Benefit Bash in 1983, the Benefit for the Theater Off Park in May 1988; the 2nd annual WPBX Jazz Festival at the Fine Arts Theater in August 1989. While performing in Lisbon, Portugal, she was interviewed by the television show host Henrique Mendes at the television station RTP (the sole television station at that time)."
A limited list of artists who performed and/or recorded with Morgana King over the years of her career are Ben Aronov, Ronnie Bedford, Ed Caccavale (drums), Clifford Carter, Don Costa, Eddie Daniels, Sue Evans, Larry Fallon, Sammy Figueroa, John Kaye (percussion), Helen Keane, Art Koenig, Steve LaSpina, Scott Lee, Jay Leonhart, Ray Mantilla, Bill Mays, Charles McCracken, Ted Nash, Adam Nussbaum, Warren Odze, Joe Puma, Don Rebic, Jack Wilkins, Joe Williams (bass), and Torrie Zito.
Her repertoire contains more than two hundred songs on more than thirty albums. Most of her recordings and re-issues have not remained in the catalogs.
In 1964, she received a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. The award went to the Beatles.
The UCLA Music Library's Jimmy Van Heusen papers include a letter dated September 5, 1965 pertaining to "songs… to be given to Morgana King."[86] She recorded three songs by Van Heusen: "Here's That Rainy Day" (on It's a Quiet Thing, 1965), "Like Someone in Love" (on Stardust, 1986; and Another Time, Another Space, 1992) and "Imagination" (on Looking Through The Eyes Of Love, 1998). King's 1967 single "I Have Loved Me A Man" appeared in the US "Easy Listening" survey and the Australian Top 20, according to the Kent Music Report.
Morgana King appeared in five films, including The Godfather Parts I and II (1972 and 1974).
Beginning with The Andy Williams Show and The Hollywood Palace in 1964. For more than a decade she performed on television talk and variety shows including The Mike Douglas Show, The Dean Martin Show and The David Frost Show.
King announced her retirement from performing during an engagement at the Cotton Club in Chicago on Friday, December 10, 1993, and added that her recording would not be affected by the decision. She continued to perform after that date at the Ballroom, Maxim's, Mirage Night Club (a benefit jazz session), and Roosevelt Hotel's Cinegrill. Her last film appearance was in the film A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997).
Morgana King married twice. Her first marriage (when she was 17 years old) was to jazz trumpeter Tony Fruscella (1927–1969), which ended in divorce after nine years; they had a daughter, Graysan (1950–2008). During their marriage, the couple frequently had "Sunday dinner with Charlie Parker and his family."
Her second marriage, in 1961, was to jazz trombonist Willie Dennis (né William DeBerardinis; 1926–1965), whom she met during an off-night visit to the Birdland Jazz Club where she went to hear Sam Donahue's group. He had performed with both Gerry Mulligan and Charles Mingus and recorded the 1953 album release, Four Trombones on Mingus' record label, Debut Records. He had toured extensively with Benny Goodman, Woody Herman and Buddy Rich.
She traveled to Brazil with Dennis to experience this "new" music style when he toured with Rich in 1960. She said the experience was "an introduction to myself." Their close collaboration was suddenly shattered in 1965 with his death from an automobile accident in New York's Central Park. It's a Quiet Thing (Reprise, 1965) is a memorial to him.
After Dennis's death, King relocated and lived for more than two decades in Malibu, California. She accepted Frank Sinatra's offer to record three albums on his record label Reprise Records (It's A Quiet Thing (1965), Wild Is Love (1966) and Gemini Changes (1967)).
King's voice is notable for its four-octave range. She continued to pursue new forms of expression and presentation by exploring current music trends, which can be heard and read from the list of songs and composers on more than thirty albums. She ventured into new creative areas throughout her career all the while keeping contact with her musical point of origin in jazz. Her distinctive sound has its criticism and detractors.
In literature, the Library of Jazz Standards by Ronny Schiff (2002) recognizes Morgana King as one of the performers who made famous the songs "Imagination" (Van Heusen, Burke), "Like Someone in Love" (Van Heusen, Burke) and "Will You Be Mine" (Adair, Dennis). Also, there is the occasional mention of her in fiction.
King has been credited with composing "Moe's Blues", a song recorded by Beverly Kenney on Beverly Kenney Sings for Johnny Smith (1955), and "Simply Eloquent", with Monte Oliver, which appears on an album of the same title, initially released in 1986 by Muse Records. In 1991, she produced a set of seminars called Morgana King Fine Arts Series. The seminars brought together small groups for recurring meetings every few months held at select venues including Lincoln Center. One of the functions of the series was to familiarize participants with performance methodologies. There was a panel available to critique the performances.
Her signature song is "A Taste Of Honey", originally released on the album With A Taste of Honey (Mainstream Records, 1964). Her most re-issued songs are "My Funny Valentine", from Everything Must Change (Muse, 1978), and the title track of For You, For Me, For Evermore (EmArcy Records, 1956).
It's Only A Paper Moon
Morgana King Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Yes, it's only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
Without your love
It's a honky tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Say, it's only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Yes, it's only a canvas sky
Hanging over a muslin tree
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me
It's phony it's plain to see
How happy I would be
If you believed in me
Morgana King's song "It's Only a Paper Moon" features an exploration of the theme of love through the metaphor of a paper moon. The singer acknowledges that the world can seem fake or phony, but it can become real and genuine if someone believes in them. The use of the phrase "paper moon" suggests fragility and impermanence, and the contrast with the "cardboard sea" and "canvas sky" adds to the overall sense of artificiality, reminding the listener that reality can sometimes be too harsh to face.
The theme of love in this song is emphasized by the juxtaposition of the happy and lively "honky tonk parade" and "melody played in a penny arcade" with the acknowledgment that the world is "phony" and "just as phony as it can be." The singer suggests that without love, the world loses its magic and becomes hollow, but if someone believes in them, even the phony world can become real.
Through these lyrics, Morgana King encourages the listener to embrace the transformative power of love, to believe in it even in a world that seems fake and false. Ultimately "It's Only a Paper Moon" becomes an anthem to the power of self-belief and the transformative power of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Say, it's only a paper moon
Let me tell you, this moon is not real, it's just a paper creation
Sailing over a cardboard sea
This moon is just floating on top of a sea made of cardboard
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you looked at it with the same belief and wonder that I do
If you believed in me
And trusted me to show you the beauty that I see in this fake moon
Yes, it's only a canvas sky
This sky we see above is not real either, it's painted on canvas
Hanging over a muslin tree
It's merely draped over a tree made of thin cotton fabric
Without your love
If you were not in my life to share all this with me
It's a honky-tonk parade
My life would be no different from the loud and dazzling parade of a honky-tonk bar
It's a melody played in a penny arcade
It would just be a simple tune played on a cheap music machine in an amusement park
It's a Barnum and Bailey world
The world around us is full of illusions and deceptions that make it feel like a circus show
Just as phony as it can be
And it's all as fake and unreal as it could possibly be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
Though all of this is fake, all of it would become real and beautiful
If you believed in me
If you joined me in seeing the beauty of the illusions around us
It's phony it's plain to see
We know that all of this is fake and not real
How happy I would be
But how happy it would make me to have you by my side, enjoying it all with me
If you believed in me
If you could trust me to show you the beauty of the world, despite its illusions
Lyrics © S.A. MUSIC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Billy Rose, E. Y. Harburg, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
patrick ryan
A most unique voice (and technique). We lost you, Morgana, in 2018; but somewhere in the vast universe you've arrived to delight and intrigue an even wider audience.
MinXX
Wow. This is the first time I heard her sing (well, after watching The Godfather). What a voice!!!
Ryoki Nor
Wonderful. Goodbye Morgana.
shimenoかずよし
この世は作り物だらけ・・・
でも貴女が信じるならそれは本物♪
ふるーいレコードですが彼女は本物の歌手
映画「ゴッド・ファーザー」ではお母さん役で出ていました