His family attended the Main Street Baptist Church in Jacksonville, and it was there that he had his earliest singing experiences, both as a choir member and soloist.

[4] He then was offered his own weekly show by NBC Radio, Highways in Melody, with Lavalle serving as music director and his orchestra accompanying.

[5] In 1948 he performed selections from Jules Massenet's Hérodiade and Victor Herbert's Eileen with soprano Vivian Della Chiesa and Lavalle conducting the New York Philharmonic.

[7] Other engagements with major symphony orchestras soon followed, including performances with conductors Charles Munch, Erich Leinsdorf, and Seiji Ozawa.

He was also frequently heard at the Tanglewood Music Festival, making his debut there in 1950 as Don Anchise in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's La finta giardiniera with Ray Smolover as Count Belfiore, Julian Patrick as Roberto, Marni Nixon as Serpetta, and Sarah Caldwell conducting.

Also that year he sang the role of Leperello in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Boris Goldovsky's New England Opera Theater.

[9] He was heard in succeeding years with that company as Figaro in The Barber of Seville (1952–1954[10]), Podesta (1953), the title role in Don Pasquale (1955), and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (1956).

In April 1958 he gave a highly successful New York City recital debut at Town Hall with Paul Ulanowsky serving as his accompanist.

[16] In 1959 he performed in the United States premiere of Offenbach's Le Voyage dans la Lune with the Opera Company of Boston.

[18] In 1962 Morgan sang Jochanaan in Richard Strauss' Salome with Thomas Schippers conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.