Lee Morse (November 30, 1897 – December 16, 1954) was a very popular recording artist, songwriter and actress of the 1920s and early 1930s. She got her professional start in vaudeville on the west coast around 1920 and went on to perform in several plays and musical revues on Broadway. In 1924 she began to make records under her own name for the Pathé Actuelle company accompanying herself on guitar, ukulele and kazoo.
Morse’s voice was so deep and unusual that her early records were labeled Miss Lee Morse apparently so that the record buying public wouldn’t confuse her for a male singer. Many of her recordings especially those released under the name of Lee Morse and her Bluegrass Boys feature accompaniment by a small jazz band that often included some of the best White jazz musicians of the era.
Morse was an excellent and unique singer. She had great range and her style of singing combined Blues and Jazz phrasing as well as almost yodel-like passages. Morse’s career faded in the early 1930s due to bouts with alcohol and illness but she continued to perform in nightclubs and to record sporadically throughout the 1930s. In the late 1940s she tried to revive her career and briefly had a local radio show in upstate New York. She recorded one last record in 1950. She died suddenly in 1954.
| Lee Morse and her Bluegrass Boys | Lee Morse and her Southern Serenaders |
| Title | Recording Date | Recording Location | Company |
| After We Kiss (Britt / Fiorito) | 1-25-1928 | New York, New York | Columbia 1328-D |
| A Little Love (Lee Morse) | 6-1-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32102 Perfect 11618 |
| A Miss In Mississippi (Lee Morse) | 3-24-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25205 Perfect 12197 |
| All Alone (Irving Berlin) | 10-7-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32102 Perfect 12181A |
| Alone At Last (Gus Kahn / Ted Fiorito) | 10-7-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32102 Perfect 11585 |
| Are You Sorry? (Davis – Ager) | 6-19-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25147 Perfect 11581 |
| Best Of All (Lee Morse) | 8-20-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 025155 Perfect 11589 |
| Bring Back Those Rock-A-Bye Baby Days (Christy / Silver) | 10-7-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32086 Perfect 12165 |
| Careless Love | 3-2-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 1737 A |
| Daddy Your Mama Is Lonesome For You (Chris Smith / Bob Schafer / Jimmy Durante) | 10-5-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25162 Perfect 11596 B |
| Dallas Blues (Hart A. Wand / Lloyd Garret) | 6-19-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25148 Perfect 11582 |
| Deep Wide Ocean Blues (Lee Morse) | 11-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle Perfect |
| Dawning (Silver / Pinkard) | 8-27-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 1149-D |
| Did You Mean It? (From “A Night In Spain”) (Phil Baker / Sid Silvers / Abe Lyman) | 10-10-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 1199-D |
| Don’t Try To Cry Your Way Back To Me | 3-24-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32118 Perfect 12197 |
| Golden Dream Girl (Lee Morse) | 11-28-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32103 Perfect 12182 |
| Happy Dreams (Chinese Love Song) (Lee Morse) | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle Perfect 11609 | |
| Home | 1-13-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32110 Perfect 12189 |
| I Ain’t Got Nobody to Love (Sam Coslow / Abner Silver) | 12-13-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32107 Perfect 12186 |
| I Like Pie I Like Cake | 1-13-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32110 Perfect 12189 |
| I’d Love To Be In Love (Lee Morse) | 3-16-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 1011-D |
| I’m Tired of Everything But You (Isham Jones) | 8-5-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 025155 Perfect 11589 |
| In Old Madrid | 2-13-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 21143 Perfect 11216 |
| In The Middle Of The Night (Donaldson / Rose) | 4-20-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25172 Perfect 11616 |
| In The White Church On The Hill | 4-11-1933 | New York, New York | Bluebird B-5044 |
| I’ve Got To Sing A Torch Song (From “Gold Diggers of 1933”) (Harry Warren / Al Dubin) | 4-11-1933 | New York, New York | Bluebird B-5052-B |
| I’ve Looked All Over (For A Boy Like You) (Lee Morse / Downey) | 8-27-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia unissued |
| I Want To See My Tennessee (Milton Ager / Jack Yellen) | 12-11-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32100 Perfect 12179 B |
| I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight (Walter Donaldson) | 11-11-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle Perfect 11599-A |
| Juanita | 2-13-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 21143 Perfect 11216 |
| Lee’s Lullaby (Lee Morse) | 10-1-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32102 Perfect 12181 B |
| Lonely Nights (Lee Morse) | 9-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25201 Perfect 11635 B |
| Lonesome And Sorry (Davis / Conrad) | 6-1-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle Perfect 11618 |
| Look What You Went And Done (Lee Morse) | 8-17-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25205 Perfect 11639 |
| Mail Man Blues (Lee Morse) | 10-7-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32086 Perfect 12165 |
| Me Neenyah (My Little One) (Brown / Spencer) | 2-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32103 Perfect 12182 |
| Mother And Dad (Lee Morse) | 12-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25172 Perfect 11606 |
| My Idea Of Heaven (Is To Be In Love With You) (Johnson / Sherman / Tobias) | 3-16-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 974-D |
| My Old Kentucky Home (Stephen Foster) | 9-28-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25166 Perfect 11600 |
| My Red Headed Blue Eyed Colleen (Lee Morse) | 6-29-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25190 Perfect 11624 |
| My Sugar Babe (Lee Morse) | 11-11-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25165 Perfect 11599-B |
| My Sweetie Turned Me Down | 10-5-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25162 Perfect 11596 A |
| Nobody Else | 12-9-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25158 Perfect 11604 |
| Old Fashioned Romance (Lee Morse) | 10-10-27 | New York, New York | Columbia 1199-D |
| Old Folks At Home (Stephen Foster) | 9-28-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25166 Perfect 11600 B |
| Pettin’ In The Park (From “Gold Diggers of 1933”) (Harry Warren / Al Dubin) | 4-11-1933 | New York, New York | Bluebird B-5052-A |
| Poor Butterfly Waits For Me (Lee Morse) | 1-25-1928 | New York, New York | Columbia 1328-D |
| Rosita (Lee Morse) | 6-30-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 1082-D |
| Sad and Lonesome Little Pickaninny (Lee Morse) | 8-?-1926 | New York, New York | Perfect 11628 |
| Shadows On The Wall (Lee Morse) | 3-24-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25147 Perfect 11581 |
| Shadows On The Wall (Lee Morse) | 6-25-1928 | New York, New York | Columbia 1497-D |
| Side By Side (Harry Woods) | 3-16-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 974-D |
| Sing Me A Song Of Texas (Lee Morse) | 3-2-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 1737 B |
| Someday You’ll Say “O.K.” | 10-10-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia unissued |
| Someone Is Losin’ Susan (Tuck / Meyer / Ash) | 8-4-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25161 Perfect 11595 Perfect 11630 |
| Thanks For The Buggy Ride (Jules Buffano) | 3-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25178 Perfect 11612 |
| The Light In The Bend Of The Road | 8-4-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25196 Perfect 11630 |
| To-night You Belong To Me (David / Rose) | 8-16-1926 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25197 Perfect 11631 |
| Too Tired (George A. Little / Arthur Sizemore / Larry Shay) | 12-11-1924 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 32100 Perfect 12179 |
| We (My Honey And Me) (Woods / Sherman / Tobias) | 6-30-1927 | New York, New York | Columbia 1082-D |
| What Is Love All About? (Lee Morse) | 4-20-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 25182 Perfect 11616 |
| When I Lost You (Irving Berlin) | 3-2-1938 | New York, New York | Decca 1919 A |
| While The Rest Of The World Is Sleeping | 4-11-1933 | New York, New York | Bluebird B-5044 |
| Yearning (Davis / Burke) | 4-21-1925 | New York, New York | Pathé Actuelle 025140 Perfect 11574 |
| Artist | Instrument |
| John Cali | Guitar |
| B. Downey | Piano |
| unknown | Piano |
| Title | Director | Year |
| The Music Racket | Vitaphone 1004 | 1930 |
| A Million Me’s | Monte Brice | 1930 |
| Song Service | Norman Taurog | 1930 |
