Morgana King
| Morgana King | |
|---|---|
King with Dean Martin, 1968.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Maria Grazia Morgana Messina |
| Born |
June 4, 1930 Pleasantville, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Vocal jazz, cool jazz, jazz blues, bossa nova, bebop, traditional pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1946–1998 |
| Labels | Ascot, EmArcy, Mainstream, Mercury, Muse, Paramount, Reprise, Savoy, United Artists, Verve, Wing |
Morgana King (born June 4, 1930) is an American jazz singer and actress. Her best-known role was that of Carmela Corleone in The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974).
King was born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina in Pleasantville, New York. Her parents were from Fiumefreddo di Sicilia, Province of Catania, Sicily. She grew up in New York City with five siblings. Her father, who owned a coal and ice business, played the piano and guitar by ear. Her family experienced a difficult financial period after her father died.
Around the age of thirteen her vocal gifts were recognized when she was overheard singing the aria "I'll See You Again" from Noël Coward's operetta Bitter Sweet. At age 16 she developed a love for big bands. A scholarship to the Metropolitan School of Music soon followed.
Her professional singing career began at age sixteen as Morgana King. When she sang in a Greenwich Village nightclub in 1953, a record label executive took interest after being impressed with the unique phrasing and multi-octave range. Three years later in 1956, her first album, For You, For Me, For Evermore, was released.
In the first appearance of Leonard G. Feather's Encyclopedia of Jazz (1960), Morgana King stated that her ambition was "… to become a dramatic actress." She began her acting career in The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, as Carmela Corleone, wife of Don Vito Corleone. In the film, she sang the song "Luna mezzo mare". King appeared as herself in the television documentary The Godfather: Behind the Scenes (1971). She reprised the role in The Godfather: Part II (1974).
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