Beatrice Melba Smith (born October 29, 1945), known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress.
Biography 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 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, 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", 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"—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. 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 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".
Accolades In addition to her 1970 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lutiebelle in Purlie, Moore's music career brought additional accolades. She was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1971 for Best New Artist. In 1976, she earned another Grammy nomination for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Female for the song "Lean on Me". Moore was nominated again for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1986 for "Read My Lips".
Moore was the 2012 Recipient of the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival Theatre Legend Award. She was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 2015, in Detroit.
On August 10, 2023, Moore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame within the Live Theatre/Live Performance category.
On April 27, 2026, Moore was inducted into the Atlantic City Walk of Fame presented by, The National R&B Music Society. Former WBLS radio personality Debi B. inducted her. Tavares, Sister Sledge, Billy Paul, Black Ivory and Roy Ayers were also inducted as part of the 2026 Class.
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)
Filmography Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) – Singer at the Apollo Theater (uncredited) The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (1970) – Model at Party Lost in the Stars (1974) – Irina The Doctors (1978) as herself on the March 20th episode performing "I got Love" & "Stranger in Paradise" The Love Boat (1979) as Claudette Plummer on the 14th episode of the 3rd season, The Stimulation of Stephanie/The Next Step/ Life Begins at 40 Charlotte Forten’s Mission (1985) – Charlotte Forten Christmas with Flicka (1987) – Herself All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) – Whippet Angel (named Annabelle in later installments) (voice) Yakety Yak, Take It Back (1991) – Herself and Tibi the Take it Back Butterfly (voice) The Fighting Temptations (2003) – Bessie Cooley
Discography Albums YearAlbumChart positionsUSUS R&B1970I Got Love Released: June 9, 1970 Label: Mercury——1971Look What You're Doing to the Man Released: January 29, 1971 Label: Mercury157431972Melba Moore Live! Released: July 21, 1972 Label: Mercury——1975Peach Melba Released: June 10, 1975 Label: Buddah176491976This Is It Released: April 13, 1976 Label: Buddah145321976Melba '76 Released: December 2, 1976 Label: Buddah177301977A Portrait of Melba Released: November 6, 1977 Label: Buddah——1978Melba '78 Released: September 29, 1978 Label: Epic114351979Burn Released: September 21, 1979 Label: Epic—711980Closer Released: July 20, 1980 Label: Epic——1981What a Woman Needs Released: October 12, 1981 Label: EMI America201461982The Other Side of the Rainbow Released: October 10, 1982 Label: Capitol152181983Never Say Never Released: November 14, 1983 Label: Capitol14791985Read My Lips Released: March 22, 1985 Label: Capitol130301986A Lot of Love Released: July 18, 1986 Label: Capitol9171988I'm in Love Released: June 1, 1988 Label: Capitol—451990Soul Exposed Released: March 26, 1990 Label: Orpheus / Capitol—521996Happy Together (with The Lafayette Harris, Jr. Trio) Released: June 18, 1996 Label: Muse——1999Solitary Journey Released: February 23, 1999 Label: Encore Music Group——2001A Very Special Christmas Gift Released: October 23, 2001 Label: Believe Music Works / Lightyear——2002A Night in St. Lucia Released: June 25, 2002 Label: Image——2003I'm Still Here Released: February 25, 2003 Label: Shout Glory——2004Nobody but Jesus Released: August 31, 2004 Label: Believe Music Works / Lightyear——2007Live in Concert Released: August 7, 2007 Label: Soul Concerts——2009The Gift of Love (with Phil Perry) Released: September 29, 2009 Label: Shanachie——2016Forever Moore Released: April 10, 2016 Label: Muzikk Matrixx——2019The Day I Turned to You Released: December 13, 2019 Label: Hitman Records——2022Imagine Released: April 29, 2022 Label: The Gallery Entertainment / Orpheus Enterprises—— "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.
Compilations Year Album1979Dancin' with Melba Released: 1979 Label: Buddah1995This Is It: The Best of Melba Moore Released: March 21, 1995 Label: CEMA / Razor & Tie1997The Magic of Melba Moore (A Little Bit Moore) Released: January 28, 1997 Label: EMI
Singles