Melba Moore

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, 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. Moore was nominated again for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1986 for "Read My Lips".

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