Ella Mae Morse
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Born

  • September 12, 1924
  • Mansfield, TX

Died

  • October 16, 1999
  • Bullhead City, AZ

Ella Mae Morse

Popular singer best known for her hit ''Cow Cow Boogie,'' Ella Mae Morse got her big break at a young age with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra. There are two stories about her short stay with Dorsey. One is that she called for an audition when the band was booked at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. Needing a female singer, Dorsey listened, liked her and hired her. She claimed to be 19 but was really 13, and when Dorsey later received a notice from the school board informing him that he was responsible for her he fired her.

The other story tells that Dorsey discovered a 15-year-old Ella Mae at a Houston jam session. She had borrowed carfare to get to the event and walked out with a Dorsey contract. She was, however, inexperienced and undisciplined. Singer Bob Eberly recalls that on one radio program she forgot the lyrics to a song and started ad libbing as to that fact and on another song she sang an alternate set of risqué lyrics that was banned by the network. Dorsey fired her after only a month, hiring Helen O'Connell in her place.

The first story seems to be the ''official'' one, while the second is how Dorsey bandmembers and music journalists of the time remembered it. In consideration of Morse's age, the second story better fits with the chronology of Dorsey's orchestra.

Whatever the truth, young Ella Mae apparently made a good impression on Dorsey bandmember Freddie Slack. Three years later, in 1942, he hired her to sing with his new orchestra. It was there she had her biggest hit with ''Cow Cow Boogie,'' Capitol Records' first gold single. She left Slack a year later and continued recording solo for Capitol. Though her records sold well throughout her career she never found a large following. She retired in 1957. Ella Mae Morse passed away from respiratory failure in 1999.