Lena Corinne "Lee" Morse (née Taylor; November 30, 1897 – December 16, 1954) was an American jazz and blues singer-songwriter, composer, guitarist, and actress.

[3] Morse was born Lena Corinne Taylor on November 30, 1897, in Cove, Oregon,[4] a small town in the Grande Ronde Valley.

[5] She was the ninth of twelve children (and the third daughter) of Pleasant John Taylor, a local pastor[7] from Texas, and his wife Olive Higgins Fleming.

[8] Morse's other siblings included six other brothers: Robert, Davis, Jackson, Ephraim, Ruford, and Paul; two half-sisters, Elinor and Carrie; and two half-brothers, Lemuel and Pleasant.

[9] After their ranch was foreclosed on, the family relocated to the small town of Kooskia, Idaho, where Lena spent her early years.

She had learned to sing by the time she was three years old by impersonating her brothers, which accounts for her later ability to master deeper registers in her vocal range.

[12] During the next few years she played shows largely in small Pacific Northwestern towns such as Spokane, Washington, and Chewelah, accompanying herself on guitar.

One reviewer observed "she sings a baritone 'Silver Moon,' then swings into a bass with 'Asleep in the Deep' and finishes in a soprano with 'Just a Song of Twilight.'"

In November 1922 the reviewer for Variety noted "She gives the impression of a male impersonator, yodels rather sweetly, sings the 'blues' number better than the majority.

The cast included star Raymond Hitchcock, as well as Marion Green, Irene Delroy, Al Sexton, Busby Berkeley, and Ruth Urban.

[12] In 1927, with other prominent Pathé and Perfect vocalists (Willard Robison, Annette Hanshaw, Cliff Edwards), Morse moved to the Columbia label.

[15] She continued to do vaudeville and other stage work, landing a role in Ziegfeld's Simple Simon that may have made her an even bigger star.

According to Lorenz Hart biographer Gary Marmorstein: "[On opening night], Wynn, the bicycle-piano and Lee Morse made their entrance and were greeted with applause.

As a result, the show's "Ten Cents a Dance" became Etting's signature song while Morse's once promising Broadway career abruptly ended.

After her relationship with Bob Downey ended in the late 1930s, Morse weathered a rocky period that left those closest to her worried for her health.

She attempted a comeback with the song "Don't Even Change a Picture on the Wall" that was written in the 1940s for World War II soldiers and recorded in 1951.

After her death, her husband, Ray Farese, turned her photos and scrapbook over to journalist Howard Hosmer, who apparently produced a career retrospective for a local station.