10/29/2021
HAPPY 76th BIRTHDAY Melba Moore (Beatrice Melba Hill) singer, actress, voice actress, and entertainer. Moore is the daughter of saxophonist Teddy Hill and R&B singer Bonnie Davis.Moore began her recording career in 1967, cutting the track "Magic Touch" which was left unreleased until 1986. It has become 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. She began her performing career in 1967 as Dionne in the original cast of the musical Hair along with Ronnie Dyson 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.
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 in 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. In addition to her Tony Award, her 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",
Moore was also nominated for Best Female Rock Vocal in 1986 for "Read My Lips". Moore is also the 2012 Recipient of the Atlanta Black Theatre Festival Theatre Legend Award. Moore was inducted into the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame on October 4, 2015, in Detroit.
Moore received the prestigious 2015 Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award during the Artists Music Guild's 2015 AMG Heritage Awards broadcast held on November 14, 2015, in North Carolina.
Ms. Moore stars in the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe's production of "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill" to great acclaim in the sold-out run.
Melba'stage work includes 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),Straight 2the Head (2013),Great God A'Mighty (2013)
Filmography:Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) – Singer at the Apollo Theater (uncredited),The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker (1970) – Model at Party,All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) – Whippet Angel (voice) and The Fighting Temptations (2003)
