Thomas Morgan Edwards (December 4, 1932 – June 23, 2022) was an American harmonicist and

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, who had been active since the 1950s. He was considered one of the most heard harmonica players in the world, playing in over 500 feature films. Morgan's extraordinarily prolific career spanned seven decades, and included playing on (and occasionally composing) themes and incidental music for dozens of major Hollywood films, and hundreds of episodes of American television series, including main themes for

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigat ...

and

Sanford and Son ''Sanford and Son'' is an American sitcom television series that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977. It was based on the British sitcom ''Steptoe and Son'', which initially aired on BBC One in the Unite ...

. Although frequently uncredited in his earlier career (as was typical for session musicians of that era), Morgan also has a huge list of credits in popular music -- among the most notable in that field are his prominent contributions to the seminal mid-1960s recordings by

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

, including the ''

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'' album, their number one single "

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" and the recordings made for their uncompleted ''Smile'' project. He retired after a stroke in late 2013 and died at the age of 89 on June 23, 2022.

Awards

In 2001, Morgan received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award from

The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica The Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to players of the harmonica. Organized as a club, SPAH has members worldwide, though the majority of the members are located ...

Collaborations

* ''

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and vari ...

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(1968) * "

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(1971) * '' Playing Possum'' -

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(1975) * ''

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'' -

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(1976) * '' Making a Good Thing Better'' -

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(1977) * ''

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(1977) * '' Don't Cry Out Loud'' -

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(1978) * '' Change of Heart'' -

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(1978) * ''

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(1980) * ''

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'' -

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(1981) * ''

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(1981) * '' Looking Back with Love'' -

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(1981) * ''

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'' -

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(1982) * '' Lush Life'' -

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(1984) * '' Jump!'' -

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(1984) * ''

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'' -

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(1987) * '' The Rumour'' -

(1988) * '' Bellybutton'' -

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(1990) * '' The Crossing'' - Paul Young (1993) * ''

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(1994) * '' Orange Crate Art'' -

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(1995) * ''

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(1996) * '' Signs of Life'' -

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(1996) * ''Peace on Earth'' -

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(1997) * ''

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(1998) * '' A Love Like Ours'' -

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(1999) * '' October Road'' -

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(2002) * ''

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(2003) * ''

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'' -

(2008) * ''

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(2010) * ''Red Dead Redemption Soundtrack (2010)'' * ''

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(2014)

Bibliography

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References

External links

* * * *
Interview on the Brian and Danielle Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Tommy 1932 births 2022 deaths American harmonica players American session musicians Musicians from Los Angeles