All Photos: Alan Mercer Lighting: Eric V.
This 'Queen of the Underground' has ascended to Hollywood’s “Divine Diva.” Mix a phenomenal live singing ability with a provocative stage presence, and you have one of the rare breed of singers invited to perform at the finest venues and most exclusive Hollywood parties without the benefit of representation or a record deal.
This charming and soulful indie pioneer hasn’t had the time to focus on mainstream validation, her laid back philosophy is rather, let mainstream come to her.
Morganne’s singing and modeling career skyrocketed in Paris in her early teens, where she was snatched up and signed by Warner Brother’s International. Her exquisite looks and prodigious live vocal talent catapulted her into the limelight singing at the famous Parisian nightclub Les Bains Douches, starring in films and commercials, and modeling for print and runway around the World.
Later Morganne moved to New York where she honed down her Jazz career, and sang at such notorious venues as the Blue Note and Nell’s. Upon relocating to Los Angeles, the city warmly embraced her European flare, and a loyal and devoted fan base gradually blossomed.
As a student of opera, ballet, belly dancing and mime, this triple threat entertainer thrives in a live setting as she blends her talents into an unforgettable show that has heated up the hippest nightclubs and venues worldwide. Decked out in haute couture, with a magnificent chapeaux from her legendary collection, Morganne’s electric fusion of Jazz, Blues, Latin, Reggae, Trip Hop, Chill-Out and vintage R&R , results in a thrilling repertoire you’re not likely to experience anywhere.
This glamorous, globe trotting artist has performed at the House of Blues, Montreal Jazz Festival, and opened for megastar Barbra Streisand at the Kodak Theater as well as The Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl.
She has also entertained at such elite functions as Mercedes-Benz’ Los Angeles Fashion Week, Stella McCartney’s “Absolut Stella” soiree, opening of the W Hotel and of the Music Box-Henry Fonda Theater.
Morganne’s most exciting personal accomplishment was achieved when she was invited by the UNITED NATIONS to be an honorary artist of the new initiative “Artists for the United Nations” a partnership between Global Vision for Peace and the UN – with an honorary committee including his holiness the Dalai Lama. She was also recognized with an award of achievement for her extraordinary volunteering in arts, education and programming for the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.
Morganne wrote a song for designer Maggie Barry’s new perfume ‘Dangerous Love’, and is the spokes-model-singer of the perfume.
AM: Morganne you have such a signature look!
MP: I have been wearing false eye lashes since I was a kid. Unless I'm being paid as a model and then I do whatever they want, but my look has always been false eye lashes and feathers.
AM: False eye lashes and feathers is a fabulous look!
MP: Thank you...oh and eye liner! You have to have liner.
AM: How does it feel to be a Muse for so many artists?
MP: Being a muse makes me feel like I have a purpose on earth. I believe that the muses, be it a man or a woman, are the reasons that culture evolves. I have muses too.
AM: Where did you grow up?
MP: I grew up in Montreal, Canada. I started modeling at thirteen years old with my first modeling job in New York. I came to LA and San Francisco when I was fourteen and then moved to Paris when I was seventeen. I haven't lived in Canada since. I even skipped a year of high school and graduated at sixteen.
AM: Did you grow up in an artistic household?
MP: My dad was a concert pianist and played every instrument on tour when my mother seduced him, or vice versa, and she became pregnant. She called his mother and said she was pregnant, so my father's mother made sure he married my mother....and here I am!
AM: I see...
MP: My mother is a blueblood on both sides. She came from a Catholic family where there were eighteen children.
AM: You must have always been sophisticated.
MP: For many reasons, my grandmother on my father's side was a very famous doyenne, like a matriarch of Montreal. She was the confidante of the mayor's wife. She was very modern and helped facilitate abortions and things like that.
AM: So you come from a line of progressive women.
MP: Oui.
AM: You have quite a bit of personal power.
MP: Thank you but I prefer to say it's a force of nature. The word power is scary.
AM: You're intelligent too.
MP: I have a 167 IQ. I was among the top five percent of the smartest people of my country. I could have received a free education at any University on earth.
AM: Did you pursue schooling?
MP: I skipped that year in high school where I was the head of everything. I would hyperventilate if I didn't get an A+ and I would show the teacher that he was wrong.
AM: Did you sing all this time?
MP: All the time. My grandmother told me I sang 'Silent Night' when I was two years old.
AM: Did you study singing and take voice lessons?
MP: Yes, I studied with Nikolai Kolesnikov from the Bolshoi and four years with the great opera Diva, Magda LeMaradour in Paris.
AM: Do you still travel around the world performing?
MP: I stopped traveling around the world when it became very dangerous. My mothership home is Los Angeles now. I do still fly across the United States.
AM: Have you reached your goals?
MP: I believe we always have goals that we haven't achieved. Goals are like diamonds that are multi-faceted. I'm more of a wild horse than an English Saddle! I think once you have a dream it becomes like a rainbow that has many folds. Have I achieved all of my dreams? No. My goal is to bring the equelibrium to both sides of the brain.
AM: What do you consider yourself?
MP: I make my living as an entertainer but I consider myself a metaphysician.
AM: With an IQ of 167 you can probably do that!
MP: They want to put me away sometimes in America.
AM: Do you find yourself more accepted in other places?
MP: Oh yeah! In Europe it's revered. I have patrons and I'm put on a pedestal. In America they want to put you on drugs or psychoanalyze you. You have a mental disease. In America to be too smart is a disease.
AM: You seem pretty connected to nature.
MP: I look, listen and talk to, and connect, with nature. God is the definition of nature.
AM: Morganne you ARE a force of nature.
MP: It takes one to know one.
AM: Do you have an insatiable appetite for knowledge?
MP: We are all addicted to knowing and understanding. This is the eternal quest of being on earth....or you can just go with the flow. I am a Taoist. I'm hungry but I'm not at all. It's a paradox. A paradox leaves questions that are unexplainable and that's the mystery of life.
To learn more about Morganne, visit her website http://www.morganne.com/
