He was born in New York City in 1942, the son of writer Albert Hodges Morehead, and learned to play the piano at age four.

[1][3] Prior to 1978, Morehead lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was the musical director of the New England Chamber Opera Group, where he conducted the American premieres of Busoni's Arlecchino and Handel's Imeneo, the world premiere of Paul Earls' The Death of King Phillip, in addition to other works including Stravinsky's Mavra and Menotti's The Medium.

[2] Before he joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1981, he was coordinator of the Orchestral Training Program at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

[2] Morehead was the cover conductor for the Lyric Opera of Chicago for Die Meistersinger, Jenůfa, Der fliegende Holländer, Sweeney Todd, Billy Budd and others.

He is a member of the Muskoka Concert Band in Huntsville, Ontario and was Music Director of the Highlands Opera Studio in Haliburton, Ontario, where he conducted performances of Gounod Faust, Mozart Così fan tutte, Puccini La Boheme and Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos.