Born: December 6, 1964
Place of Birth: Queens, NY
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Joyce Melissa Morgan (usually spelled Meli'sa; born December 6, 1964) is an American R&B/Soul songwriter. Morgan had a string of urban contemporary hits from the mid–1980s to the mid–1990s. Most notable include her cover version of Prince's "Do Me, Baby" (1985), "Do You Still Love Me" (1986) and "Still in Love with You" (1992).
Her initial chart entry was as the lead singer of the dance group Shades of Love. They had a single access at #26 on Billboard magazine's Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1982 with "Body to Body (Keep in Touch)." This was re-popularized in 1994 by new remixes and reached number 1 on the same chart. That same year, music entrepreneur Jacques Fred Petrus asked her to join his newly created studio group, High Fashion, which featured Morgan and two other New York vocalists, Eric McClinton and Alyson Williams. High Fashion's sole hit, "Feelin' Lucky Lately," reached #32 on the US Black Singles chart. In 1983, Morgan left and was replaced in the group by the jazz vocalist Marcella Allen. Morgan worked as a backing singer with Chaka Khan, Whitney Houston, and Melba Moore.
As a solo artist, she topped the R&B chart with her cover version of Prince's "Do Me, Baby" for 3 weeks (the title track from her debut album), which also became her only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at number 46 in 1986. She also had a top 5 R&B single with "Do You Still Love Me" from her debut album. She also had several solo hits on the US dance chart, including "Still in Love with You," which hit #3 in 1992.
A verse from Morgan's 1986 single "Fool's Paradise" was re-vamped, with modified lyrics, by Mary J. Blige as the chorus to the 1996 Jay-Z single "Can't Knock the Hustle."
After a lengthy hiatus, Morgan released her fifth solo album, I Remember. The first single, "Back Together Again," a song originally recorded by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway, received moderate airplay on urban contemporary radio stations during early 2006 and peaked at number 46 on Billboard's R&B chart. The follow-up singles included "I Remember," "Will You?," and "High Maintenance," which were released in September 2006. New material by Meli'sa Morgan can be heard on a German release by Cool Million, which features Meli'sa Morgan on lead vocals on the opening track "Sweet Baby."
In 2014, Morgan was honored with an Unsung Heroine Award by the National R&B Music Society at Resorts Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.
Morgan was featured on an episode of TVOne's Unsung aired in 2015.