Melba Moore
(born Melba Hill
, October 29, 1945, New York) is an American R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.
|
MELBA MOORE TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
---|
Melba Moore Tickets 8/9 | Aug 09, 2024 Fri, 7:00 PM | | Melba Moore Tickets 8/9 | Aug 09, 2024 Fri, 9:00 PM | | Melba Moore Tickets 8/10 | Aug 10, 2024 Sat, 9:00 PM | | Melba Moore Tickets 8/10 | Aug 10, 2024 Sat, 7:00 PM | | Melba Moore Tickets 8/11 | Aug 11, 2024 Sun, 7:00 PM | |
|
Early Life
Born Melba Hill to
Alabamian musicians, Moore attended
Newark Arts High School in
Newark,
New Jersey.
[1] Her mother,
Bonnie Davis had a #1 R&B hit with "Don't Stop Now", prior to Melba's birth. Although her biological father was legendary
Big Band leader and
saxophonist Teddy Hill, it was her stepfather, pianist Clement Moorman (who played on "Don't Stop Now") who became a prime influence and encouragement in Moore's musical pursuits and talent, insisting she learn to play the piano. Initially, Moore graduated from college and worked as a music teacher, but soon opted to switch careers.
Broadway
Moore began her performing career in 1967 as a member of the original cast of the musical
Hair
along with
Ronnie Dyson and
Diane Keaton. Moore replaced Keaton, the first ever instance of a black actor replacing a white actor in a leading role on Broadway. In 1970, Moore won a
Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in
Purlie
(she portrayed Lutiebelle). In 1978 she appeared (as Marsinah) with
Eartha Kitt in
Timbuktu!
.
Music Career
In the 1970s, Moore started focusing on a recording career. Her debut
album, released in 1970 on
Mercury Records, was
I Am Love
, followed by
Look What You're Doing To The Man
. Following this, she enjoyed brief success with her own TV
variety show, co-starring then-boyfriend
Clifton Davis. Moore later revealed the show was cancelled after its brief run when her relationship with Davis came to an end.
In 1975, Melba Moore married Charles Huggins, and together they formed Hush Productions. In addition to Moore, such notable R&B artists as
Freddie Jackson and
Meli'sa Morgan would sign with the company. Moore's own recording success came slowly; after several minor charting singles, she scored her first significant hit with the
Van McCoy-penned "
This Is It" (1976), a huge
Disco hit that reached the R&B Top 20, and became her first single to crack the
Billboard Hot 100. The single also reached the Top 10 in the
UK, becoming her biggest success in that country. The rest of the decade she continued to release albums with marginal success, and singles that became moderate R&B or Disco hits. Her biggest success from this period was 1979's "You Stepped into My Life", another Top 20 R&B hit which also became her biggest Pop hit.
However, it wasn't until 1982 that Moore would begin her most fruitful period in music. Off the album
The Other Side of the Rainbow
, she released "Love's Comin' At Ya", which became her biggest R&B hit to date, reaching the Top 5 (and giving her another Top 20 hit in the UK). She followed this with a string of R&B hits: "Keepin' My Lover Satisfied" (#14, 1983), "Livin' For Your Love (#6, 1984), "Read My Lips" (#12, 1985) and "When You Love Me Like This" (#14, 1985). In late 1986 she had her first #1 hit, "
A Little Bit More", featuring Freddie Jackson. Moore quickly scored a second #1 early the following year with "
Falling". Additional Top 10 singles during this time include "Love the One I'm With (A Lot of Love)" and "It's Been So Long".
In 1986 Moore also headlined the
CBS television sitcom
Melba
that debuted the same night as the Challenger explosion and was infamously canceled after only its pilot episode.
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" (which featured such artists as Jackson,
Stevie Wonder,
Aretha Franklin,
Jeffrey Osborne,
Anita Baker and
Stephanie Mills).
Turmoil and Current Work
In 1990, Moore received divorce papers from Huggins, without any prior warning. In the ensuing months, she came to find that her personal savings with Huggins, as well as investment in their company, Hush Productions, had all vanished. She filed for
bankruptcy amid heavy media attention, and the next few years found Moore struggling to recover from the personal and professional sebacks she had endured.
She began recording and performing live again, recording such albums as
Happy Together
(with the Lafayette Harris Jr. Trio) and
I'm Still Here
. Moore has been and is currently focusing on
gospel recordings while still appearing in an occasional
Broadway show. In 2003, she was featured in the
film,
The Fighting Temptations
, which starred
Cuba Gooding, Jr. and
Beyoncé Knowles.
Awards
In addition to her
Tony Award, Moore music career brought additional accolades. She was nominated for a
Grammy Award in 1971 for 'Best New Artist'. Her 1975 second album,
Peach Melba
, saw her get a
Grammy nomination. In 1976, she earned another Grammy nomination for
Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for the song "
Lean On Me",
[2]. Moore was also nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal in 1986 for "Read My Lips".
Discography
- I Got Love
- (Mercury Records, 1970)
- Look What You're Doing to The Man
- (Mercury Records, 1971)
- Live
- (Mercury Records, 1972)
- Peach Melba
- (Buddah Records, 1975)
- This Is It
- (Buddah Records, 1976)
- Melba
- (Buddah Records, 1976)
- A Portrait of Melba
- (Buddah Records, 1977)
- Melba
- (Epic Records, 1978)
- Burn
- (Epic Records, 1979)
- "Closer" - (Epic Records, 1980)
- What a Woman Needs
- (EMI America Records, 1981)
- The Other Side of the Rainbow
- (Capitol Records, 1982)
- Never Say Never
- (Capitol Records, 1983)
- Read My Lips
- (Capitol Records, 1985)
- A Lot of Love
- (Capitol Records, 1986)
- I'm in Love
- (Capitol Records, 1988)
- Soul Exposed
- (Capitol Records, 1990)
See also
- List of disco artists
- List of post-disco artists
- List of female movie actors by name: M
- Guests on Soul Train
- List of performers on Top of the Pops
- List of Broadway musicals stars
- List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
References
- A Brief History, Newark Arts High School. Accessed August 10, 2008.
- TheEnvelope.LATimes.com - Fact Sheet on Melba Moore [1]