Denroy Morgan
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Denroy Morgan (1946 – 2022) was a Jamaican singer known for such recordings as "I'll Do Anything For You" (1981).
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Life
He left Jamaica in 1965 at the age of 19 and traveled to the United States to become a musician. He was part of the formation the Black Eagles, a New York City reggae band in the 1970s, before launching a prosperous solo career in the 1980s onwards. His children, encouraged by his success, have also taken on musical careers themselves including Laza Morgan, Gramps Morgan, and in family bands LMS and Morgan Heritage.
Morgan died from cancer at his home in Lawrenceville, Georgia on 3 March 2022 at the age of 76.
In the Black Eagles
Denroy had started in the 1970s and created the Black Eagles, a reggae band in New York City in 1974 with Devon "Igo Levi" Foster and Llewellyn "Jah T" Breadwood.
The Black Eagles won the New York Reggae Music Festival in 1977, beginning Denroy's rise to fame that continued into the early 1980s. In 1981, Morgan had his most successful release with "I'll Do Anything For You", which featured musical backing from the Black Eagles and peaked at number nine on the American soul chart. "I'll Do Anything For You" also peaked at number seven on the dance charts. These successes helped to launch his solo reggae career.
Solo career
Denroy Morgan found success in the States in 1981 with the release of his I'll Do Anything for You album, when the title track became a big R&B and Dance hit. In the realm of reggae, however, Morgan's peak period was when he signed in 1984 with RCA Records. That deal led to the release of the reggae album Make My Day and marked him as the first reggae artist to be signed to RCA Records.
In March 2014 he announced that he was working on a new album, Half N Half, featuring cover versions of Bob Marley songs and excerpts from speeches by Haile Selassie, as well as working on an updated version of his memoirs, Confession Aloud.
Musical legacy
His children were all musical growing up and have since formed two separate bands and one is a successful solo act.
- The reggae band Morgan Heritage is made up of his children Peter "Peetah" Morgan, Una Morgan, Roy "Gramps" Morgan, Nakhamyah "Lukes" Morgan and Memmalatel "Mr. Mojo" Morgan.
- The dancehall / hip hop band LMS is made up of his children, the trio Noshayah Morgan, Otiyah "Laza" Morgan and Miriam Morgan
- Otiyah Morgan known as Laza Morgan is also a solo act with singles like "This Girl" and "One by One" the latter featuring Mavado. Other famous collaborations include being featured in Alexandra Burke's hit "Start Without You" and in Kristina Maria release "Co-Pilot"
- Roy Morgan known as Gramps Morgan, in addition to being of Morgan Heritage, is also a successful solo act with two albums Two Sides of My Heart and Reggae Music Lives and was featured in India.Arie hit song "Therapy".
- Roy "Gramps" Morgan's son Jemere Morgan has also launched a solo music career.
Discography
Albums
- I'll Do Anything For You (1981)
- Make My Day (1984)
- I'll Do Anything For You / Sweet Tender Love (1990) ROHIT Records
- Salvation (1998)
Pages linking in as of 2022
Black Eagle, Carlos Garnett, Conversations with Queen, Essential Mix: Classic Edition, Fred Zarr, Gramps Morgan, Gunmen (1994 film), Laza Morgan, LMS, Mario (album), Morgan Heritage, Roy Morgan, Toots and the Maytals discography
