Melba Moore

Durham Entertainment Group Hosts Melba Moore Concert at Hayti Heritage Center on Oct. 18th, 2013

OCTOBER 18th, 2013–Durham Entertainment Group hosted a concert featuring award winning R & B singer Melba Moore at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham NC at 7pm.

Melba Moore is honorably one of the top singers the R&B world has ever known and this can be supported by her admirable chart activity, which dates back to 1975.  Moore first launched her career when she joined the cast of the Broadway musical Hair and won the lead role. It was the first time in history that a black actress replaced a white actress (Diane Keaton) for the lead role on Broadway. That followed with another Broadway hit, Purlie, which earned her a Tony Award and rave reviews.  Moore’s success on Broadway was followed by appearances in film, television, and recording ventures.

In 1975 “I Am His Lady” was released on Buddah (Billboard number 82, six weeks); it was Moore’s first single to hit the charts. It would be seven years and 12 singles later before she would claim her first Top Ten single. In 1982 the New York City native cracked the Billboard R&B charts at number five with the dance/club track “Love’s Comin’ at Ya.”

Moore’s next ten releases spawned four Top 20 and two Top Ten singles: “Livin’ for Your Love” and “Love the One I’m With” (duet with Kashif), respectively peaked at six and five. The single to follow the latter was “A Little Bit More” (a duet with Jackson). The year was 1986, and it was Moore’s first number one song but not her last. Also released in the same year, “Falling” claimed the top spot on the charts. Thereafter, Moore released seven more singles. Two were Top 20 hits and three were Top Ten hits, including the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (Billboard number ten).

In 1996 Moore released Happy Together, her first album in six years. And in 1998 she began touring the country with her one-woman autobiographical musical Sweet Songs of the Soul.

In 2003 she was featured in the film The Fighting Temptations, and in 2009 she released an album of duets with R&B singer Phil Perry, The Gift of Love, on Shanachie Records.