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Melba Moore Discography 1970 2009: A Lot of Love and a Gift of Music



Moore began her recording career in 1967, cutting the track "Magic Touch" which was left unreleased until 1986. In later years it became an enormous track on the Northern Soul Scene, eventually leading to Moore 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, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lutiebelle in Purlie. She would 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.




Melba Moore Discography 1970 2009



Melba Moore has shot to super-stardom in the early 1970s with her debut album ("I Got Love"), that garnered her a 1971 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, the following year, she also scored with a variety television show that co-starred Clifton Davis. Despite the show's being a modern success, the real-life couple fell victim through an ongoing self-destruction, hence, it was canceled. She was also in a crisis, when her career was put to an end, before it took a few years for her to comeback.A four-time Grammy nominee and one-time Tony Award winner, prior to being a singer/actress, Melba Moore also made guest appearances on nearly all of the following shows: The David Frost Show (1969), Soul Train (1971), The Mike Douglas Show (1961), Dinah! (1974), The Dick Cavett Show (1968), 13 appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), Captain Kangaroo (1955), The Tim Conway Show (1980), Solid Gold (1980), among many others.Born Melba Hill in New York City, New York, to a very popular musical family, for the time being, she was raised in Harlem, New York, and until aged 9, despite of her parents divorce, her mother remarried Clement Moorman, who introduced her to several agents, while she was growing up, in Newark, New Jersey, where she had been raised, where she attended school, there. Prior to Melba's birth, her mother penned the #1 song "Don't Stop Now". Although her biological father encouraged her to pursue a career in music, it was actually her stepfather/saxophonist, Teddy Hill, who insisted on young Melba to do it, which successfully he did, which gave her a four decade career on the map. In her early years, she even learned how to play the piano. In 1967, after graduation from college, she won the original role of Dionne (when, unfortunately Donna Summer lost the role to her) in the musical, "Hair" with Ronnie Dyson and Diane Keaton, whom Moore replaced her in the role of Sheila. In 1970, she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Purlie, which she portrayed Lutiebelle.After her successful, short-lived series The Melba Moore-Clifton Davis Show (1972), she went on sabbatical, then, formed Hush Productions, her own production company. This was 1 year after, when in 1974, she signed with Buddah Records, before Epic Records, which allowed her to make some records over the next decade, and had some chart topping hits with "This Is It," which reached #2 on the U.S. dance charts, which was also popular in the UK, a country that was used for that song. Other chart toppers that Melba scored over the years of the Disco-R&B era were, "Lean On Me," "Make Me Believe In You," "You Stepped Into My Life," "Let's Stand Together," and "Take My Love." Unlike fellow singer Donna Summer, Moore struggled to garner some disco hits of the 1970s.The 1980s saw Moore made a remarkable turn in her career, as she signed with Capitol Records, in 1982, and scored such hits as "Love's Comin' At Ya," which was a major song in the UK and in Europe. She also scored such songs with "Keepin' My Love Satisfied," "Love Me Right," "Read My Lips," (which she was nominated for her fourth Grammy) and "When You Love Me Like This." She also starred in her own series Melba (1986), for CBS, a show that was canceled unexpectedly. The following year, Moore also had a recurring role on the long-running Falcon Crest (1981), opposite Oscar Award-winner Jane Wyman. At the end of the decade, Moore also garnered some songs with, "Do You Really (Want My Love)," and "Lift Every Voice and Sing".In the mid-1990s, Moore traveled with Gospel Play called, "Mama I'm Sorry" aside Gospel's sisterly duo of Erica and Tina Atkins that was Written and Produced by Michael Matthews.With a total of 11 U.S. Top 10 Hits (singles and albums) on the Billboard Pop/R&B,Disco/Dance, Album charts combined, over a period of 40 years, Melba Moore is one of the most enduring artists of the 21st century.By the late 1990s, Melba Moore was back where she felt she belonged, reaching out and entertaining America through her acting, her singing and her comedy.In 2003, Moore was featured in the film, The Fighting Temptations (2003), which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé. In 2007, she landed a role in the Broadway revival 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 released her first R&B album in nearly 20 years, a duet release with Phil Perry called, The Gift of Love.


bvoc, voc, *1945 US, New York CitySinger / Musician of R&B/SoulA.k.a. Beatrice Melba SmithMelba MoormanSoul - disco - gospel singer - actress - TV celebrityBorn on 10 October 1945, in New York, U.S.She is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and singer Bonnie Davis. She took her last name from her stepfather, jazz pianist Clem Moorman whom her mother married after she broke up with Teddy Hill. She has released 21 studio albums (not counting live, special projects and musicals - soundtracks) between 1970 - 2009. In 1966 she released a northern soul gem at Musicor Records, "Don't Cry Sing Along With The Music" / "Does Love Believe In Me". She started her career on stage playing in the original cast of the musical "Hair" along with Ronnie Dyson, when she replaced Diane Keaton. In 1970 she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lutiebelle in "Purlie". In 1972 she co-starred in a TV show with Clifton Davis but it was cancelled after they broke up their relationship. She married to Charles Huggins in 1975 and together they founded Hush Productions which evolved into a whole genre-generating sound style in New York - the post disco Hush sound. Her first two studio albums at Mercury (1970 - 1971) were produced by Jim Fragale and in 1975 she was signed at Buddah Records for her next four albums (1975 - 1977, produced by Eugene McDaniels, Van McCoy and Charles Kipps, McFadden & Whitehead), then she moved to Epic for three albums (1978 - 1980, produced by McFadden & Whitehead, Bruce Hawes, Victor Carstarphen, Pete Belotte), one at EMI America (1981, produced by McFadden & Whitehead) and then her golden and more succesful commercially period at Capitol Records for six albums (1982 - 1990, produced by a variety of top producers of the period such as Kashif, Paul Laurence, Morrie Brown, Rahni Harris, Keith Diamond, Brian Morgan, Vaneese Thomas, Chad, Howard King, Wayne Warnecke, Ernie Poccia, David Townsend, David Conley, William A. Rhinehart, Sami McKinney, BeBe Winans, Dean Gant, Norman Connors). She made her comeback in 1999 with an album at Encore Music Group Inc and then she recorded albums for The label Shout Glory (2003), a gospel album for Believe Music Works / Lightyear (2004) and her collaboration album with Phil Perry (2) produced by Chris "Big Dog" Davis in 2009. She has never achieved stellar hits in the pop charts - the closest she has come to crossover mainstream success is with the disco classic Van McCoy-penned and produced "This Is It" (1976, No.91 U.S. Pop Charts, No.18 R'n'B U.S. Charts, No.2 Hot Dance U.S. charts and No.9 U.K. charts, a No.10 hit in the U.K. for Dannii Minogue when she covered it in 1993), the Bee Gees-penned and McFadden & Whitehead-produced "You Stepped Into My Life" (1978, No.47 U.S. Pop Chart, No.17 U.S. R'n'B Chart, No.5 U.S. Hot Dance Chart, a hit for Patti Boulaye as well in the UK when she covered it in 1979) and the post disco "Love's Comin' At Ya" (1982, No.104 U.S. Pop chart, No.5 U.S. R'n'B Chart, No.2 U.S. Hot Dance Chart and No.15 U.K. chart). She has achieved though a long string of hits in the R'n'B chart from 1975 up to 2011 with "Love Is" single. In 1976 she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance for Van McCoy-penned and produced "Lean On Me" (No.17 in R'n'B Charts), a song that Vivian Reed had first performed in 1970 and covered "Mighty Clouds Of Joy" that B.J. Thomas originally performed in 1971. In 1977 she released her cover of Beatles' "The Long And Winding Road" (No.94 in R'n'B charts). In 1983 she contributed to the soundtrack of "Bad Boys" with the Rahni Harris-produced "Don't Go Away" and the next year she duetted with Lillo Thomas for "(Can't Take Half) All Of You" (No.28 R'n'B charts). In 1986 she covered the Fleetwood Mac standard "Dreams" and was nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Read MyLips", both produced by Keith Diamond and in the same year she topped the r'n'b charts with her duet with Freddie Jackson, "A Little Bit More" repeating their duet success in 1987 with "I Can't Complain" (No.12 R'n'B chart). In 1988 she duetted with Kashif for "I'm In Love" (No.13 R'n'B chart). In 1989 she duetted with Burt Reynolds for "Let Me Be Surprised" for the soundtrack of "All Dogs Go To Heaven", in 1990 she contributed to the soundtrack of "Def By Temptation" with the Daniel Telefaro and Linda Vitali-produced "Face To Face" and in 2003 she collaborated with Beyoncé and Angie Stone for a vocal trio that performed the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis-produced "Time To Come Home" for the needs of the soundtrack "The Fighting Temptations". In 2005 she released her deep house single "My Heart Belongs To You", written and produced by Ron Carroll and in 2009 she released "Been There, Done That" produced by Richard Bush and David Posner. 2ff7e9595c


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