Jeffrey Morgan
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Morgan is a Canadian writer, musician, photographer, and poet who lives in Toronto
, Ontario
. Morgan is best known for being the authorized biographer of both Alice Cooper
and The Stooges
.
Canadian Editor of CREEM
: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Magazine after he was recruited by its editor, Lester Bangs
, in the summer of 1974. He began there as a photographer with a 1974 picture of rock music
ians Lou Reed
and Alice Cooper
together on stage at Massey Hall
, which illustrated Bangs' infamous March 1975 cover story "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves
".
Morgan's first published record review, of David Bowie
's 1965 Pye Records
single "Can't Help Thinking About Me
", ran in the October 1975 issue.
Morgan's writing went on to appear in every issue of CREEM until the magazine’s demise in November 1988. In 2003 Morgan renewed his relationship with the magazine by writing media reviews and interviews for its website every month for five years until 2008.
's weekly newspaper Excalibur.
From 1975 to 1978, Morgan was the editor of a free monthly Canadian rock magazine initially titled Cheap Thrills then StageLife and finally Roxy. All three incarnations were published by Concert Productions International, which was a major promoter of rock concerts and tours in North America run by Bill Ballard
and future Rolling Stones concert promoter Michael Cohl
.
During this period, Morgan was also the staff copywriter for CBS Records
Canada, for whom he wrote back cover liner notes
for an album of baroque music
by classical guitar
ist Liona Boyd
. After reading them, however, Boyd demanded that the notes be deleted before the album was released, claiming that Morgan made her "sound like a rock star".
Morgan's poetry was published by Rolling Stone
magazine in 1978.
Between 2004 and 2009, Morgan wrote an award-winning weekly newspaper column for Detroit's Metro Times
entitled Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout. In 2010, the column relocated to rocksbackpages.com
and Morgan's own website.
. His finished biography, titled Alcohol and Razor Blades, Poison and Needles: The Glorious Wretched Excess of Alice Cooper, All-American appears in the box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper
which was published by Warner Bros.
on April 20, 1999.
In 2011, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum cited Morgan’s biography as “Recommended Reading” about Alice Cooper, alongside Alice’s own 1976 autobiography Me, Alice.
Morgan also wrote the liner notes for two other Cooper albums: 2001’s Mascara and Monsters: The Best of Alice Cooper
and the 2002 reissue of Welcome To My Nightmare
.
. His finished biography, titled The Stooges, Yes appears in The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story which was published in hardcover by Abrams
on October 1, 2009.
, with whom he would collaborate on a number of projects. Between 1977 and 1980, they recorded an "ambient electronic avant-garde progressive art rock album" called Thrilling Women under the collective band name of the Air Pirates. The album featured vocalist Paul Robinson of The Diodes
, guitarist Toby Swann of The Battered Wives
, and saxophonist Andy Haas of Martha And The Muffins
.
In 2002, a song from the album, "A Darkened Stretch", was released by Bongo Beat Records on the compilation Driving In The Rain: 3AM (Songs To Get Lost With).
In 2011, Bongo Beat released the complete album Thrilling Women: The Lost Air Pirates Sessions - Toronto: 1978 - 1980.
writing appeared in issue #16 (April 1979) of the alternative press anthology
series Star*Reach. His 16-page cover story
, Murphy’s Law, was illustrated by Ken Steacy
.
Morgan wrote volume two of Motter's Vortex Comics
series Mister X
, the first volume of which ran 12 issues cover-dated June 1984 to August 1988. When Motter left the first, color series to work on other projects, he asked Morgan to assume the writing duties for a second, black-and-white volume, which ran 12 issues cover-dated April 1989 to March 1990.
In 2008, again at Motter's behest, Morgan wrote the introduction to Volume One of Dark Horse Comics
' hardcover omnibus Mister X: The Archives.
In 2011, Dark Horse reprinted his Mister X stories in a deluxe hardcover edition titled The Brides of Mister X.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
. Morgan is best known for being the authorized biographer of both Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
.
CREEM
Morgan became the de factoDe facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
Canadian Editor of CREEM
Creem
Creem , "America's Only Rock 'n' Roll Magazine," was a monthly rock 'n' roll publication first published in March 1969 by Barry Kramer and founding editor Tony Reay. It suspended production in 1989 but received a short-lived renaissance in the early 1990s as a glossy tabloid...
: America's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
Magazine after he was recruited by its editor, Lester Bangs
Lester Bangs
Leslie Conway "Lester" Bangs was an American music journalist, author and musician. He wrote for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines, and was known for his leading influence in rock 'n' roll criticism....
, in the summer of 1974. He began there as a photographer with a 1974 picture of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
ians Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
together on stage at Massey Hall
Massey Hall
Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....
, which illustrated Bangs' infamous March 1975 cover story "Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves
Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves
Let Us Now Praise Famous Death Dwarves is an infamous interview with Lou Reed conducted by Lester Bangs and published in Creem Magazine in 1975...
".
Morgan's first published record review, of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's 1965 Pye Records
Pye Records
Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...
single "Can't Help Thinking About Me
Can't Help Thinking About Me
"Can't Help Thinking About Me" is a song written by David Bowie in 1965 and released as a single under the name David Bowie & the Lower Third. This was the first single released after he changed his name from David Jones to David Bowie...
", ran in the October 1975 issue.
Morgan's writing went on to appear in every issue of CREEM until the magazine’s demise in November 1988. In 2003 Morgan renewed his relationship with the magazine by writing media reviews and interviews for its website every month for five years until 2008.
Other writing
After being discovered by Bangs but prior to his first publication in CREEM, Morgan spent the balance of 1974 honing his craft as a rock photographer and rock critic for York UniversityYork University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
's weekly newspaper Excalibur.
From 1975 to 1978, Morgan was the editor of a free monthly Canadian rock magazine initially titled Cheap Thrills then StageLife and finally Roxy. All three incarnations were published by Concert Productions International, which was a major promoter of rock concerts and tours in North America run by Bill Ballard
Bill Ballard
William Ballard is a businessman and concert promoter. He is the son of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey mogul Harold Ballard.Bill Ballard was a founder of Concert Productions International , a major promoter of rock concerts and tours in North America...
and future Rolling Stones concert promoter Michael Cohl
Michael Cohl
Michael Cohl is a Canadian concert promoter, theatrical producer and touring impresario. He is the former Chairman of Live Nation, the largest live entertainment company in the world. Cohl now runs S2BN Entertainment, with offices in Miami and Toronto...
.
During this period, Morgan was also the staff copywriter for CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
Canada, for whom he wrote back cover liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
for an album of baroque music
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
by classical guitar
Classical guitar
The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...
ist Liona Boyd
Liona Boyd
Liona Maria Carolynne Boyd, LLD, D.Mus, CM, O.Ont, is a Canadian classical guitarist, composer, songwriter and singer. Boyd was born in London, England on July 11, 1949, moved to Canada with her parents when she was eight years old and became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1975...
. After reading them, however, Boyd demanded that the notes be deleted before the album was released, claiming that Morgan made her "sound like a rock star".
Morgan's poetry was published by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine in 1978.
Between 2004 and 2009, Morgan wrote an award-winning weekly newspaper column for Detroit's Metro Times
Metro Times
The Metro Times is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in the metro Detroit area. Supported entirely by advertising, it is distributed free of charge every Wednesday in newsstands in businesses and libraries around the city and suburbs...
entitled Jeffrey Morgan's Media Blackout. In 2010, the column relocated to rocksbackpages.com
Rock's Backpages
Rock's Backpages is an online archive of music journalism, sourced from freelance contributions to the music and mainstream press from the 1950s to the present day. The articles are full text and searchable, and all are reproduced with the permission of the copyright holders. The database was...
and Morgan's own website.
Alice Cooper
In 1992, Morgan began writing the authorized biography of Alice CooperAlice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
. His finished biography, titled Alcohol and Razor Blades, Poison and Needles: The Glorious Wretched Excess of Alice Cooper, All-American appears in the box set The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper
The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper
The Life and Crimes of Alice Cooper is a 4-CD box set by Alice Cooper. It includes select tracks from every studio album released up until then, plus many B-sides, unreleased songs, and other rarities....
which was published by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
on April 20, 1999.
In 2011, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum cited Morgan’s biography as “Recommended Reading” about Alice Cooper, alongside Alice’s own 1976 autobiography Me, Alice.
Morgan also wrote the liner notes for two other Cooper albums: 2001’s Mascara and Monsters: The Best of Alice Cooper
The Best of Alice Cooper
Mascara and Monsters: The Best of Alice Cooper is a compilation album by rock singer, Alice Cooper, released by Warner Archives/Rhino in 2001 in the US only...
and the 2002 reissue of Welcome To My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare
Welcome to My Nightmare is the eighth album by Alice Cooper, released in 1975. This was Alice Cooper's first solo album . The cover artwork was created by Drew Struzan for Pacific Eye & Ear. Rolling Stone would later rank it as one of the "Top 100 Album Covers Of All Time".Welcome to My Nightmare...
.
The Stooges
In 2008, Morgan began writing the authorized biography of The StoogesThe Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
. His finished biography, titled The Stooges, Yes appears in The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story which was published in hardcover by Abrams
Abrams
Abrams may refer to:* Abrams * Abrams v. United States 250 U.S. 616 , U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding free speech during times of war* M1 Abrams, main battle tank* Abrams, Wisconsin, U.S. town...
on October 1, 2009.
Music
In 1975, Morgan met conceptual illustrator and graphic designer Dean MotterDean Motter
Dean Motter is an illustrator, designer and writer who worked for many years in Toronto, Canada, New York City, and Atlanta. Motter is best known as the creator and designer of Mister X, one of the most influential "new-wave" comics of the 1980s....
, with whom he would collaborate on a number of projects. Between 1977 and 1980, they recorded an "ambient electronic avant-garde progressive art rock album" called Thrilling Women under the collective band name of the Air Pirates. The album featured vocalist Paul Robinson of The Diodes
The Diodes
The Diodes are a Canadian punk/new wave band formed in 1976. They released five albums: Diodes , Released , Action-Reaction , Survivors , and Time/Damage Live 1978...
, guitarist Toby Swann of The Battered Wives
The Battered Wives
Battered Wives was a Canadian punk rock band from Toronto, active during the late 1970s. The group was spawned on Queen St. It consisted of Toby Swann , Colin Fox , and Robert Stewart, . The whole idea being to turn it up to ten and saw the knobs off...
, and saxophonist Andy Haas of Martha And The Muffins
Martha and the Muffins
Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian new wave band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the core members of the band also charted in Canada and...
.
In 2002, a song from the album, "A Darkened Stretch", was released by Bongo Beat Records on the compilation Driving In The Rain: 3AM (Songs To Get Lost With).
In 2011, Bongo Beat released the complete album Thrilling Women: The Lost Air Pirates Sessions - Toronto: 1978 - 1980.
Comics
One of Morgan's first instances of comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
writing appeared in issue #16 (April 1979) of the alternative press anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
series Star*Reach. His 16-page cover story
Cover story
Cover story may refer to:* a story in a magazine whose subject matter appears on its front cover* a fictitious account that is intended to hide one's real motive, e.g. when a terrorist pretends to be farmer to buy fertilizer or to provide an explanation in case it is found; the story in the case of...
, Murphy’s Law, was illustrated by Ken Steacy
Ken Steacy
Ken “Value Added” Steacy is a Canadian comics artist and writer best known for his work on the NOW Comics comic book series of Astro Boy and of the Comico comic series of Jonny Quest, as well as his graphic novel collaborations with Harlan Ellison and Dean Motter...
.
Morgan wrote volume two of Motter's Vortex Comics
Vortex Comics
Vortex Comics was a Canadian independent comic book publisher that operated during the years 1982 to 1994. Under the supervision of president, publisher, and editor Bill Marks, Vortex was known for such titles as Dean Motter's Mister X, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, and Chester Brown's Yummy Fur...
series Mister X
Mister X (Vortex)
Mister X was a series of comic books first published in 1983–90 by Toronto-based Vortex Comics. Created by album and book cover designer Dean Motter, it was developed for a year in close collaboration with comic artist and illustrator Paul Rivoche, whose series of poster illustrations stirred up...
, the first volume of which ran 12 issues cover-dated June 1984 to August 1988. When Motter left the first, color series to work on other projects, he asked Morgan to assume the writing duties for a second, black-and-white volume, which ran 12 issues cover-dated April 1989 to March 1990.
In 2008, again at Motter's behest, Morgan wrote the introduction to Volume One of Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...
' hardcover omnibus Mister X: The Archives.
In 2011, Dark Horse reprinted his Mister X stories in a deluxe hardcover edition titled The Brides of Mister X.