Jane Morgan - All The Way (2010)

Jane Currier, 25 December 1920, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. A popular singer with a clear, strong voice and an ability to sing in several languages, Morgan was accepted in many parts of the world during the 50s and 60s. Raised in Florida, she trained as a lyric soprano at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, supplementing her income by singing in night-clubs. At one of them, she was spotted by the French impresario Bernard Hilda, who offered her a contract to sing in Paris. Within weeks of arriving in France she became a major attraction and, during the next few years became established throughout Europe. On her return to the USA, she was billed as ‘The American Girl From Paris’, and appeared successfully on television and in night-clubs. Signed for Kapp Records, she had a minor hit in 1956 with ‘Two Different Worlds’, one of the several tracks she recorded with pianist Roger Williams. The following year she had a million seller with ‘Fascination’, adapted from the old French number ‘Valse Tzigane’, with an English lyric by Dick Manning, which became the theme for the Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn movie Love In The Afternoon. Despite the rock ‘n’ roll revolution, she continued to be successful, especially in Europe, and in 1958, she had a UK number 1 with Gilbert Bécaud and Carl Sigman’s ‘The Day The Rains Came’. Her French version of the song was on the b-side. Among her other hits in the early 60s, were ‘If Only I Could Live My Life Again’, ‘With Open Arms’ and ‘Romantica’, and her 1957 album, Fascination, made the US Top 20. Morgan’s husband, Jerry Weintraub, was instrumental in Elvis Presley’s re-emergence in the early 70s, and managed several top US singers such as John Denver.