A singer since she was very young, Morrigan wrote her first song on her parents' piano when she was eleven years old. A natural loner, often ridiculed by her peers for her awkwardness and small stature, Morrigan found one place she was always welcome – the stage. She stunned her parents with her first live singing performance at the age of 8, and from then on never missed an opportunity to perform. From musicals to honors choirs to athletic events, Morrigan sang it all – arias, art songs, show tunes and even the national anthem. As a teenager, she got interested in live rock bands, and added rock singing to her already full plate.
By the age of 17, however, the years of constant performing, without supervision from professional voice instructors, took their toll on Morrigan's young vocal cords. A week into her summer at the Governor's School for Performing Arts, an exclusive camp for rising high school seniors of exceptional talent, her voice grew so hoarse she could barely talk. The voice director insisted that a doctor examine Morrigan's throat to determine the cause.
The news was not good. While Morrigan's vocal cords did not require surgery, they were heavily damaged and scar tissue seemed a foregone conclusion. She was put on three weeks of complete vocal rest, and told she would never be able have a career as a singer.
The loss of her voice was incredibly difficult for Morrigan. Shut out from singing, she grew distant from her few friends, and turned instead to the burgeoning goth subculture in her native Washington DC. After a dispirited two and a half years at James Madison University (JMU), she was suspended for behavioral issues. Back home, however, her negativity and bitterness was cultivated by her new friends. Addiction to drugs and alcohol was also encouraged.
Still, Morrigan was not ready to give up completely. Five years after her first prognosis, she received a cautiously optimistic opinion from a second doctor, and spent the next several months re-learning how to sing. Her hard work paid off, and Morrigan re-entered JMU in the Spring of 1995 as a voice major. She participated in all of the elite university singing groups during her last two years, and even directed, arranged, and performed in her own all-female a capella group. Upon graduation, she auditioned for and was chosen to be a lead singer in Paramount's Kings Dominion's popular Retro-Active show.
Determined to finally have the music career she'd always dreamed of, Morrigan started writing her own music again and put out her first demo CD in 1998. Playing open mics and meeting other musicians, she seemed to be on the right track. Unfortunately, a lack of mentors coupled with bad advice from a litany of would-be suitors kept her from realizing her potential. She grew increasingly despondent, and a year later, dropped out of the music business altogether, once again finding solace with her old goth friends.
The next few years of her life, Morrigan slipped into an abyss of self-destructive behavior. While there was no one specific event that spurred her out of it - perhaps it was constantly finding herself in increasingly compromising situations - Morrigan finally decided, in 2001, that she was tired of being bitter and directionless. She stopped abusing alcohol and drugs, moved back in with her parents, and cut ties to everyone she'd been hanging out with for the last three years.
In 2002, Morrigan released her first full-length album: Unbearably Sweet, a collection of haunting and personal songs. While the CD received rave reviews from local papers, Morrigan was unable to get traction with the music industry, and after two more years of getting nowhere, Morrigan, exasperated, started casting about for another change.
An alternative rock band, Waking State, was at that time in need of a new singer. While they had not wanted a female (the previous singer was a male), Morrigan sweet-talked her way into an audition and was promptly hired. The band became the new buzz of the DC music scene, catching the attention of Ted Comerford, a gifted rock producer. In a few months, the band recorded a new album. On Comerford's advice, Waking State agreed to use a top-flight engineer to get the hard-hitting mix the songs needed, and sent their masters to L.A. for mixdown. But eleven months later, the songs were still not back. Waking State's momentum stalled. With no product to send to local media outlets and give to fans, they slipped into an obscurity that the album's eventual release, nearly two years later, could not alleviate. Waking State performed their last live show in October of 2006 and four months later, the band was dissolved, its other members scattered across the country.
Discouraged and once more in need of some time away from the entertainment business, Morrigan threw herself into her only love besides music – animals. She trained for six months at a busy animal hospital, and a few months later, transferred to a small clinic, planning for a career as a veterinary technician.
The time away from music was bittersweet. While Morrigan had gained some much-needed stability, she missed the joy she had found in writing and performing. She started going back to open mics, booked a few gigs, and quickly became a sought-after solo acoustic performer in bars throughout Maryland, DC and Virginia. Eager to produce new music for the first time in years, in late 2007 Morrigan went into the studio and slapped together an acoustic demo CD of three new tunes that was ecstatically received by fans old and new.
Despite the gigs and the fans, however, Morrigan still struggled for recognition from the entertainment industry. In a last ditch effort to break through, Morrigan entered the Human Factor Productions Free Ride Contest, accompanying her entry with a heartfelt essay about the history of her music career. If it didn't pan out, she decided, she would give up the music business for good.
And then, finally, Morrigan got the break she had been waiting for. Human Factor Productions, LLC, a production company associated with Discovery Channel music, chose Morrigan as the winner of their 2008 Free Ride Contest. She received over $10,000 worth of music career support services, including a week in the studio with Blake Althen, international music producer and music supervisor at Discovery Channel, and a photo shoot with renowned photographer Roy Cox. The time spent with industry professionals finally gave Morrigan the tools she needed to be able to produce the music she wanted, on her own terms, now and into the future.
While you may never see her on the cover of Rolling Stone, Morrigan, her poignant songwriting, her sweet voice and her special organic/electric sound are all here to stay. Working with animals during the day and playing gigs at night, Morrigan still finds time to write and produce new music for her ever loyal fans.
Her newest album, "Just Tell Me," is due for release in the Spring of 2010.