Gary Morris

Gary Gwyn Morris, born December 7, 1948, in Fort Worth, Texas, is an American singer and stage actor who built a substantial career across country music and Broadway theater. He has a twin sister, Carey, and a younger brother, Mark. His family relocated from Fort Worth to North Richland Hills, Texas, in the late 1950s, where Morris attended Richland High School and competed in four sports, earning an athletic scholarship to Cisco Junior College in Texas. It was during his college years that he shifted his focus to singing, eventually moving to Colorado, where he and two friends formed a trio. A well-received impromptu performance at a Colorado Springs bar persuaded Morris to abandon his academic plans and commit to a performing career.

Through the early 1970s, Morris earned his living singing in Denver nightclubs and writing commercial jingles, including spots for Frontier Airlines. In 1976, he joined Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign as a performer at fundraisers, work that eventually brought him to the White House after Carter's election. Nashville producer Norro Wilson was in the audience on one such occasion, and after hearing a demo tape Morris provided, Wilson signed him to Warner Bros. Records. Morris formalized that recording contract in 1980.

His early Warner Bros. releases placed modestly on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart before he broke through with "Headed for a Heartache," which reached No. 8 in late 1981. His 1983 album Why Lady Why, which earned gold certification from the RIAA, leaned heavily toward ballads and produced four charting singles, including "The Wind Beneath My Wings," "The Love She Found in Me," "Velvet Chains," and the title track, all of which peaked in the top 10 of the country chart. Written by Larry Henley and Jeff Silbar, "The Wind Beneath My Wings" was among the earliest hit recordings of the song; Bette Midler's version would later top the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989. Morris also charted a top 10 duet with Lynn Anderson, "You're Welcome to Tonight," during this period.

Following two additional top 10 hits in 1984, "Between Two Fires" and "Second Hand Heart," Morris reached No. 1 on the country chart for the first time in March 1985 with "Baby Bye Bye." He accumulated three more solo chart-toppers over the next two years: "I'll Never Stop Loving You," "100% Chance of Rain," and "Leave Me Lonely." His duet with Crystal Gayle, "Makin' Up For Lost Time (The Dallas Lovers Song)," also reached No. 1. A second duet with Gayle, "Another World," served as the theme song for the NBC soap opera of the same name for nearly a decade. In total, Morris placed more than twenty-five singles on the Billboard country charts, including five No. 1 hits, and released nine studio albums. In early 2008 he released two gospel albums, and his subsequent recording Faith and Freedom was dedicated to military troops. He also contributed two songs to Juice Newton's album Duets: Friends and Memories, released in October 2010.

Morris stepped away from touring to pursue acting, and in 1987 he appeared on Broadway in Les Misérables, playing the role of Jean Valjean. His performance contributed to the full symphonic cast recording of the production, a platinum-selling, Grammy Award-winning album that includes his rendition of "Bring Him Home." His Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical dates to 1985. Beyond Broadway, Morris appeared alongside Linda Ronstadt in a production of Puccini's opera La Bohème. During the 1980s he also had a recurring role on the television series The Colbys, portraying blind country singer Wayne Masterson, on which he performed "Try Gettin' Over You" from his Anything Goes release. In 1992 he guest-starred in an episode of Designing Women. Morris additionally hosted and produced TNN's The North American Sportsman, and participated in a PBS special concert recorded at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia. He later opened a music publishing office in Nashville, where future star Faith Hill was among his employees.