The Musical Siren with Velvet Vocals

mesmerizingA VOICE The Musical Siren with Velvet Vocals

BY LORI HUTZLER ECKERT PHOTOGRAPHY BY KAT HENNESSEY She leans in with all her might once, twice, Recently heralded by the New York Times as “heatedly compelling,” James, who possesses an ethereal beauty, and then, still undeterred, a third and is a rising star on a trajectory that is the stuff of which success stories are made. However, cover-girl looks final time—but the gleaming black baby and breathtaking talents aside, her career hasn’t grand piano doesn’t move a fraction of an evolved because of unsighted providence; rather, it’s been painstakingly planned through her dogged inch. With hands firmly on her hips and determination and innate will to succeed. Flashing a a look of dismay, the diminutive Morgan charming diva-may-care smile, she confesses that she has “always been a schemer,” even as a child. James appears genuinely perplexed, as Born in Idaho and raised in Northern California, she is clearly a woman used to making James credits her family with fostering her gift seemingly impossible things happen all on a multigenerational level. Her parents, who were involved in the arts, planted the seed for her on her own. appreciation of the theater, while her grandparents provided encouragement from the time her talent James, who can be found most nights in the glow began to emerge. of Broadway theater footlights, was setting the stage, literally, for Sinfonia Gulf Coast’s 2013–2014 “My grandfather overheard me singing in the season kickoff at Seagar’s Prime Steaks and Seafood other room, and he picked me up and hauled me on October 10 in Miramar Beach, Florida. Dressed upstairs—I think it was at Christmastime—and in jeans with her blonde hair pulled into a neat, low made me sing for the whole family,” James says. ponytail and peering through thick-framed glasses, her ingenue-like appearance belied the glamorous Shortly after, her grandmother offered to pay for voice chanteuse who would belt out soul-stirring song after lessons, which was a commitment she honored from song at the sold-out show only a few hours later. the time James was in sixth grade through her educa- tion at New York City’s prestigious Juilliard School. Quite frankly, Morgan James is not a “what you see And while the abundance of love and lessons prepared is what you get” kind of person; she is more. The her to be in the spotlight, nothing could have braced uncontrived contradictions she embodies reveal her her for the reality of a young entertainer’s life in New as endearing, intriguing, and, if not a bit vulnerable, York City before she found success. at least exposed in a very honest way. “When I graduated, I was …” James pauses, carefully And then there’s her voice, which she describes as MY GRANDFATHER OVERHEARD having “always been much bigger than my body.” Actually, it’s the voice, because it is unlike any other, ME SINGING IN THE OTHER ROOM, with a tone so seductively rich it reverberates in “ you long after James is gone and leaves you wanting AND HE PICKED ME UP AND HAULED more. Just ask any of the Sinfonia guests who heard her perform songs from her debut album, Morgan ME UPSTAIRS—I THINK IT WAS AT James Live, which was released earlier this year by CHRISTMASTIME—AND MADE ME Epic Records. SING FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. ” ALL THE ARTISTS I LOVE, THEY HAVE IN COMMON THAT THEY searching for the right words. “I was very naive, and“ I thought, well, you know, I’m talented, I work ALL HAVE A DARKNESS; THEY hard … I have a dream, so my dream’s going to come true. And this is not the way it works for HAVE A SEX APPEAL. THERE IS AN everybody. And it was not easy. I had many years ELEGANCE, AND YET, THEY ARE when I could not get a job. I had many years where I couldn’t get arrested in this town. I didn’t find NOT COMPLETELY POLISHED AND my niche, and I couldn’t find my path very easily. It made me very sad; there’s nothing more palpable PERFECT. THEY’RE CONNECTED than wanting something, and I didn’t think it was TO THEIR SADNESS. going to happen.”

But James doesn’t love music; she is in love with “It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she admits, “and” music. Even during those early years that she people hate to hear that. They are like, ‘Oh, don’t talk recounts as “mean” and “harsh,” she simply was not about how hard it is!’ But it’s important, especially going to settle for a one-sided affair. It is obvious for kids growing up and wanting it. I wish someone that, from the start, she was all in. had told me, ‘It’s going to be a lot of hard work, you are not going to see your family very much, you are Many artists, even if blessed with immense talent, not going to get a lot of time off, you are going to would not have had the grit and the guts to get have to deal with a lot of rejection …’” knocked down and get back up again; however, during those uncertain years while tutoring, bar- But more than twelve hundred miles away from the tending, and catering for a living, James immersed Great White Way, James would soon experience herself in the music of her idols, including Aretha only unadulterated adoration at the event to raise Franklin, Joni Mitchell, and Nina Simone, who funds for Sinfonia, the Emerald Coast area’s only inspired James’s current album. “All the artists I love, fully professional symphony orchestra. Looking they have in common that they all have a darkness; around the Hilton Sandestin Beach Golf Resort they have a sex appeal,” she reveals. “There is an and Spa’s AAA Four Diamond–rated restaurant as elegance, and yet, they are not completely polished it was being transformed into a cabaret setting, she and perfect. They’re connected to their sadness.” says, “Well, this is my favorite size. I think about a hundred and fifty people will be here. It is intimate James’s own ability to connect to her emotions enough, but I’ve also played rooms that hold twenty. has been lauded by critics and fans for her work You don’t know intimate until five people show up on Broadway, beginning with her 2010 role in The for your gig—which happens!” She laughs. “And Addams Family, where Demetrius Fuller, conduc- this kind of setting, too—where people are with tor of Sinfonia Gulf Coast, first saw her. James has their friends and family, and their bellies are full—it also appeared in a run of Wonderland and the first just creates this atmosphere of enjoyment. And this Broadway revival of Godspell; she is currently starring restaurant is so classy; it’s so first-rate, and it deserves in the role of Teena Marie in Motown: The Musical. first-rate music.”

Making it to Broadway was “a relief ” for James, and Following a four-course wine dinner created especially she emphatically expresses gratitude for the oppor- for the event by Seagar’s executive chef, Dan Vargo, tunities and the relative success she’s had. However, James’s presence filled the room as she entered with a measure of unvarnished truth, she revealed singing “I Put a Spell on You.” The guests were that she no longer glorifies the idea of Broadway. unabashed in sharing spontaneous exclamations of HER VOICE IS AN EXTRAORDINARY “ INSTRUMENT, AND I WANTED TO SHARE HER IMMEASURABLE TAL- ENT WITH OUR COMMUNITY. I HAVE approval throughout her set and punctuating the “And, it was priceless,” he added with a laugh, “to NO DOUBT THAT HER STAR WILL evening with a standing ovation and demands for see everyone’s faces when that enormous voice came CONTINUE TO RISE. an encore. from such a petite person.”

Nina Jeffords, a Destin, Florida, resident and longtime Following the Thursday night show, many of the ” supporter of Sinfonia, is now counted among James’s guests gathered around James, who took time growing Emerald Coast fan base. She first saw James to shake hands and pose for photos, giving no in a 2012 holiday performance held by the symphony. intimation of the exhaustion she felt. Just the day “Seeing Morgan James again was a great treat,” Jeffords before, she had performed in a 2:00 p.m. Motown said after the Seagar’s show. “When I closed my eyes matinee before flying with her five-member band and just took in her incredible voice, I realized, once to Northwest Florida, arriving at midnight. And again, it is amazing that we are able to experience this six hours after the show’s end, she caught a 4:00 caliber of talent on the Emerald Coast.” a.m. return flight to New York for anotherMotown performance that evening. With her wry sense of Jeffords and many other area patrons of the arts have humor, she says, “Only a Broadway schedule could Demetrius Fuller, who has been behind Sinfonia’s make a thirty-six-hour gig in Florida feel like a baton since he founded the symphony in 2006, to vacation—truly!” thank for charting new roads on the area’s culture map. Fuller has brought in the likes of Tony Award James is back to making the wheels turn with her winner Bernadette Peters, Grammy Award winner usual seven-days-a-week schedule centered on Roberta Flack, and Mary Wilson of Supremes fame eight Broadway performances in addition to her during Sinfonia’s short history. Fuller handpicked solo appearances. Somehow, she still finds time James to kick off Sinfonia’s eighth season, titled to plan and “scheme” about what remains on “Musical Identities.” her professional to-do list. “My next dream: it’s to continue to make records; it’s to continue to Calling James “one of the most gracious and humble write music,” she says. “I’m a very new writer, and people I have ever met,” Fuller also has extreme admira- I want to hone that skill, and I want to travel the tion for her as an artist. “Her voice is an extraordinary world singing. And then, who knows what dreams instrument, and I wanted to share her immeasurable may come.” talent with our community,” he said. “I have no doubt that her star will continue to rise, so it is a With the confidence of a person who stands ten feet great pleasure to know that Sinfonia’s supporters tall in her own talent, she adds, “You are only as big were able to see and hear her perform live. as your biggest dreams.” 2. PHOTOS BY KAY PHELAN

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