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Lena Corinne Taylor (November 30, 1897 – December 16, 1954), professionally known as Lee Morse, was an American jazz and blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress. Morse's greatest popularity was in the 1920s and early 1930s as a torch singer, although her career began around 1917 and continued until her death in 1954. Morse was known for her strong, deep singing voice and vocal range, which often belied her petite frame. She possessed a contralto vocal range, and one of her trademarks was her unique style of yodeling. Recording over 200 songs over her career, Morse was one of the most recorded female singers of the 1920s. She was also moderately successful as an actress on the Broadway stage. Her life and career, however, were marred by alcoholism. In 2014, Morse's rendition of "If You Want the Rainbow" was used in an episode of the HBO series ''Boardwalk Empire''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=HBO )〕 ==Early life== Morse was born Lena Corinne Taylor in Cove, Oregon, a small town in the Grande Ronde Valley. Some sources list Morse's birthplace as Portland, Oregon, though this is disputed by her death certificate, which lists her birthplace as Union County, Oregon.〔 She was the ninth of twelve children (and the third daughter) of Pleasant John Taylor, a local pastor from Texas, and his wife Olive Higgins Fleming. Morse's younger brother was Glen H. Taylor, a country singer and Democratic politician who served on the United States Senate in Idaho, and also ran for the Vice-President of the United States with Henry Wallace.〔Morse’s younger brother, Glen Taylor, held a seat in the United States Senate in 1948 and ran unsuccessfully for the Vice-Presidency with Henry Wallace. Remembered as the "Singing Senator," Glen Taylor had enjoyed a career in show business from the age of 15.〕 Morse's other siblings included six other brothers: Robert, Davis, Jackson, Ephraim, Ruford, and Paul; two half-sisters, Elinor and Carrie; and two half-brothers, Lemuel and Pleasant.〔 The Taylor family was musical and prior to Lena's birth had toured Idaho by covered wagon as the Taylor Family Concert Company,〔Liner notes by Ian House for the CD ''Lee Morse — Echoes of a Songbird,'' page 6.〕 affording them enough money to purchase a ranch in La Grande, Oregon. After their ranch was foreclosed on, the family relocated to the small town of Kooskia, Idaho, where Lena spent her early years. She had learned to sing by the time she was three years old by impersonating her brothers, which accounts for her later ability to master deeper registers in her vocal range.〔Liner notes by Ian House for the CD ''Lee Morse — Echoes of a Songbird,'' page 7.〕 In 1908 the Taylors moved to Clearwater Valley, three miles east of Kooskia. The family had little money, and father John Taylor spent time as a traveling preacher in Colorado and across Oregon.〔 Lena Taylor would often be heard singing on her way to school.〔 On May 2, 1915, Lena married Elmer Morse, a local woodworker from Wallace, Idaho.〔Liner notes by Jim Bedoian for the CD ''Lee Morse — A Musical Portrait, p. 3.〕 She gave birth to a son, Jack, the following year.〔 Lena, however, had a desire for a career as a singer and separated from Morse in 1920. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lee Morse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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