Morris Higham Managment Chairman Dale Morris died Aug. 21 at the age of 89. After starting his career as a songwriter, landing a top five hit with Johnny Paycheck's “Don’t Monkey With Another Monkey’s Monkey,” Morris founded booking agency Dale Morris & Associates and then Morris Artist Management with Alabama as his first client more than four decades ago, going on to handle the careers of Kenny Chesney, Old Dominion, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, Big & Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Dailey & Vincent, Greylan James and Barbara and Louise Mandrell, among others. His business expanded to many related ventures, including record labels Treehouse and WeBlast, Dale Morris Productions, Morris Light & Sound,, and More American Hospitality, which he co-founded in 2014 to manage resort and entertainment opportunities, including Nashville's Fontanel (which he co-owned at the time) and the Deadwood (SD) Mountain Grand (CAT 7/2/14). He sold Morris Artist Management to Front Line Management in 2009 (CAT 5/13/09) and Dale Morris & Associates to Paradigm Talent Agency in 2018 (CAT 11/25/18).

Morris Higham Management Pres. Clint Higham says Morris was "larger than life, and never met a dream he couldn’t build ... He saw things in people, in me, in Kenny, and inspired everyone to reach beyond what we thought possible ... He lived a big, bold, beautiful, blessed life, and I’m holding onto that right now. It’s the end of an era.”

Morris was inducted into the International Entertainment Buyers Association’s Hall of Fame in 2010 and, in 2014, received the Tony Martell Lifetime Entertainment Achievement Award from the T.J. Martell Foundation (CAT 3/11/14). A Celebration of Life will be planned for later this fall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Read his 2009 feature in The Interview here.