Singer-songwriter from Rochdale writes song for Netflix movie

Morgan Harper-Jones from Rochdale, who at 16 penned a song for a school production, is celebrating writing and recording songs for a Netflix movie soundtrack.

‘Love at First Sight’ was released on 15 September and the soundtrack includes an original song by Morgan, a cover of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ and a song she was asked to specially write for the film.

She said: “This is the first time ever that my music has been featured in a movie, and my first time ever writing a little ditty for screen. My little fried egg brain still can't quite comprehend it.

“I am releasing my next body of work, for my solo artist project, in January and have been working with Iain Archer from Snow Patrol, who is producing it. It features all original songs.

“I am hoping the release of the film will help to get my music known and then I want to go on tour to Europe and the States.”

It was while she was at Haslingden High School that Head of Drama Andy Anderson had written Soul Sister and he asked Morgan, who now lives in London, to pen an original song for the show.

She said: “That was the first time I had ever written something for someone else and I still love that song.”

 

 

Morgan, 26, left Haslingden High School and Sixth Form in 2015 after completing her A levels and took a gap year to decide where her career lay.

Originally from Rochdale, she was considering drama college and had several interviews lined up.

She said: “I had moved to Manchester and was sharing a house and I got a job working in Costa Coffee at Manchester Piccadilly.

“I spent the year doing gigs with my friends from Manchester before I decided it was the career for me. I was working in the coffee shop when by coincidence one of the other girls there was doing a course at BIMM Manchester and it was the first time I had heard of it.

“I went and auditioned and got in and then did a three-year degree in song writing. One of my tutors was Damian Morgan. He helped me and pushed me to write and I got a record deal with an Indie label PIAS and met my manager, Jack Sheppard.”

From Year 9 at Haslingden High School Morgan played roles in the school’s drama shows including West Side Story, when she was quoted in the school magazine Haslingden Highlights saying she wanted a career in the music industry.

In Year 11 she was the leading character Sally Cartright in Soul Sister, then in her final year she played Velma Kelly in Chicago when she described the character as her ‘alter ego’. At the time she said: “I think I will be singing ‘All that Jazz’ into my sixties.”

The Netflix film is based on a book by Jennifer E Smith who messaged Morgan praising how wonderful her songs were and that she had made the songs into a movie playlist that she had not stopped listening to.

She said: “They bring so so much more to the movie. I’m especially fond of the cover of ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ – I was so excited to see how my favourite scene in the book would play out in the film, and your song just heightens the moment so much.”