Melba Moore

Biography

Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945), known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress.

Early life and education

Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith on October 29, 1945, in New York City to Gertrude Melba Smith (1920–1976), who was a singer professionally known as Bonnie Davis, and Teddy Hill (1909–1978), a big band leader. Moore grew up in the Harlem section of New York until age nine, when her mother remarried, to jazz pianist Clement Leroy Moorman and the family relocated to Newark, New Jersey. For high school, Moore attended Newark Arts High School, graduating in 1958. In 1970, she graduated from Montclair State College with a BA in music.

Early career

Moore began her recording career in 1967, cutting the track "Magic Touch", written by Ted Daryll, which was left unreleased until 1986. In later years, it became a popular track on the Northern soul scene, eventually leading to Moore’s performing it live in 2009 at the Baltic Soul Weekender 3 in Germany, north of Hamburg. In 1967, she began her performing career as Dionne in the original cast of the musical Hair, along with Ronnie Dyson, Paul Jabara, and Diane Keaton. Moore replaced Keaton in the role of Sheila.
In 1970, Moore won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lutiebelle in Purlie, a role she would later reprise in the 1981 television adaptation for Showtime.
Moore did not return to Broadway until 1978, when she appeared (as Marsinah) with Eartha Kitt in Timbuktu! but left the show after a few weeks and was replaced by Vanessa Shaw.
Following the success of Purlie, Moore landed two big-screen film roles, released two successful albums, 1970's I Got Love×I Got Love1970 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1I Got Love3:00A2Time and Love3:20A3I Messed Up on a Good Thing2:44A4Purlie2:37A5Captain St. Lucifer3:18A6I Love Making Love to You2:53B1We're Living to Give3:06B2Sunny4:17B3The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine in)3:19B4Easy to Be Hard3:37B5He Come Down This Morning3:11B6The Façade3:28 and Look What You're Doing to the Man, and co-starred with actor Clifton Davis in the then-couple's own successful variety television series in 1972. Both Moore and Davis revealed that the show was canceled after its brief run when their relationship ended. When Moore's managers and accountants left her in 1973, she returned to Newark and began singing at benefit concerts. Her career picked up after she met record manager and business promoter Charles Huggins after a performance at the Apollo Theater in 1974.

Music career

In 1975, Moore signed with Buddah Records and released the critically successful R&B album Peach Melba×Peach Melba10 June 1975 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracksA1Must Be Dues4:25A2Get Into My Mind2:58A3If You Can Believe3:27A4Sunshine Superman4:35A5My Soul Is Satisfied4:23B1I Am His Lady3:16B2Green Birds Fly3:33B3Natural Part of Everything4:18B4Love Can Be Good to You2:58B5A Million Years Before This Time4:12B6If I Lose3:27, which included the minor hit "I Am His Lady". The following year, she scored her first significant hit with the Van McCoy-penned "This Is It×This Is It13 April 1976 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1This Is It3:07A2Free4:27A3One Less Morning4:34A4Make Me Believe You7:03B1Lean On Me4:49B2Stay Awhile3:51B3Play Boy Scout4:08B4Blood Red Roses3:14B5Brand New4:46", which reached the Billboard Hot 100, the top-20 position on the R&B chart, and top-10 in the UK Singles Chart, and became her biggest success in that country. "This is It" also became the number 1 disco track in the UK for that year. Eighteen years later Australian singer Dannii Minogue covered this song, which this time made it to number 10 on the ARIA chart.
In 1976, she scored her third Grammy nomination with the R&B ballad "Lean on Me", which had been originally recorded by Vivian Reed and later by Aretha Franklin, who recorded the song as a B-side of her 1971 hit "Spanish Harlem". The song is notable for Moore's extended long note at the end. In 1983, she re-recorded the song as a tribute to McCoy, who had penned the song and had died four years earlier. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Moore struggled to match the success of "This Is It" with minor R&B/dance hits. However, her hit 'Pick Me Up, I'll Dance' released in May 1979, produced by McFadden & Whitehead and released on Epic Records, did have considerable UK disco success, reaching UK chart position 48. She had another hit that same year, also produced by McFadden & Whitehead: a cover version of the Bee Gees' hit "You Stepped into My Life", which reached the top 20 on the R&B charts and 47 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1982, Moore signed with Capitol Records and reached the top 5 on the R&B charts with the dance-pop/funk single "Love's Comin' at Ya", which also hit the top 20 in the UK (on EMI America EA 146) and became a sizable hit in some European countries for its post-disco sound, followed by "Mind Up Tonight", which was another top 40 hit in the UK, reaching position number 22. A string of R&B hits followed, including 1983's "Keepin' My Lover Satisfied" and "Love Me Right", 1984's "Livin' For Your Love", 1985's "Read My Lips×Read My Lips22 May 1985 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 9 tracksA1Love of a Lifetime5:39A2I Can’t Believe It (It’s Over)5:29A3Read My Lips4:07A4Dreams4:55B1When You Love Me Like This4:24B2Winner4:12B3King of My Heart4:05B4To Those Who Wait4:31B5Mind Over Matter3:46"—which later earned Moore a third Grammy nomination (for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance), making her just the fourth black artist after Donna Summer, Michael Jackson and Tina Turner to be nominated in the rock category—and 1985's "When You Love Me Like This".
In 1986, she scored two number 1 R&B hits, including the duet "A Little Bit More" with Freddie Jackson and "Falling". She scored other popular R&B hits including "Love the One I'm With (A Lot of Love)" and "It's Been So Long". That same year, Moore also headlined the CBS television sitcom Melba; its debut aired the same night as the Challenger explosion, and the show was abruptly cancelled, though five episodes aired that summer. Her success began to wane as the decade closed, although she managed two further Top 10 R&B hits, "Do You Really (Want My Love)" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Moore had a starring role in the 1990 horror film Def by Temptation.

Later career

Moore returned to Broadway in 1995, landing a part in Les Misérables. A year later, she started her long-running one-woman show, Sweet Songs of the Soul, later renamed I'm Still Standing. In 2003, Moore was featured in the film The Fighting Temptations, which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles. In 2007, she landed a role in a production of Ain't Misbehavin'. In 2009, independent label Breaking Records released the EP Book of Dreams, in which Moore was featured. That same year, Moore told her life story on TV-One's Unsung, and later that year, she released her first R&B album in nearly 20 years, a duet with Phil Perry called The Gift of Love×The Gift of Love25 September 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Optimistic4:452You're All I Need to Get By4:053I Will Be Alright4:144I Believe3:475Sadie3:596Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing3:467Weakness4:488Survivak Kit4:109We'll Be Together, Then4:5510U Never Know1:5711Give (The Gift of Love)4:48. Her song "Love Is" debuted on the R&B charts in 2011 at number 87.
In 2016, Moore released the album Forever Moore. Moore has continued to tour and perform since then, releasing her album The Day I Turned To You×The Day I Turned To You2019 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1I’m Still Here4:052Praise Yah!4:153Champions4:124Call Me4:555The Other Side of the Rainbow5:406Rise My Sister4:547The Day I Turned to You5:128Lamb of God3:329Master and Friend5:3910Lift Every Voice4:00 on December 13, 2019 – an album of R&B-inflected gospel music.
In 2021, Moore collaborated with Stone Foundation on the song "Now That You Want Me Back".
In 2022, Moore performed in Washington, D.C., in Roll On, a gospel musical that originally opened with her in 2006.

Personal life

Moore has been married once and has a daughter. Moore was engaged in a four-year relationship with television star Clifton Davis during the early 1970s. Davis later admitted that the relationship failed due to his drug abuse and mistreatment of Moore. In September 1974, Moore married record manager and business promoter Charles Huggins. Moore and Huggins divorced after 17 years of marriage in 1991. In 1999, Huggins filed suit against Moore, claiming that she had publicly defamed him by stating that he abused her economically.
Moore has described herself as a "born-again Catholic".

Stage work

History of the Negro People (mini series) (1965)
Hair (1967)
Purlie (1970)
Timbuktu! (1978)
Inacent Black (1981)
Broadway at the Bowl (1988)
From the Mississippi Delta (1993, est)
Les Misérables (1995)
Brooklyn (2006)
Roll On (2006, 2022)
Straight 2the Head (2013)
Great God A'Mighty (2013)
Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill (2018)
After Midnight (2018)

Singles

^1 "Let's Stand Together" and "Take My Love" charted together on the US Billboard Dance chart, but charted separately elsewhere.