Monette Moore

Monette Moore (May 19, 1902, in Gainesville, Texas – October 21, 1962, in Garden Grove, California) was an American jazz and classic female blues singer.

Background Moore was raised in Kansas City, Missouri. She taught herself to play the piano in her teens and worked as a theater pianist in Kansas City in the early 1920s. In 1923 and 1924, she recorded for Paramount Records in Chicago and New York City, In the 1920s, she worked in Chicago, Dallas, and Oklahoma City. She sang with Charlie Johnson's ensemble at Smalls Paradise and recorded with him in 1927 and 1928.

In the 1930s, Moore recorded with Fats Waller (1932), filled in for Ethel Waters as an understudy, and sang with Zinky Cohn in Chicago in 1937. She performed at her own club, Monette's Place, in New York City in 1933.

She made a brief cameo appearance in the 1954 remake of A Star is Born, starring Judy Garland. and can be seen on YouTube.

In Los Angeles in the 1950s, she continued to perform in local venues but also worked as a maid and restroom attendant. She played with the Young Men of New Orleans at Disneyland in 1961–1962.

Moore died of emphysema in October 1962.

Filmography