The Unstoppable Melba Moore

A Look at the Life and Legacy of a Music Icon

This year’s Women’s History Month is themed “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories” and is full of recognizing women, past and present, who have been trailblazing paths in all forms of media including entertainment. Last month, in celebration of Black History Month, I had the privilege to briefly sit down with the beautiful, talented and legendary unstoppable icon, Ms. Melba Moore on Wear Red Day bringing awareness to women’s heart health.

For decades Melba Moore has reinvented herself, time and time again doing it her way, by breaking molds and creating HER-story. This year the history-maker, multiple Grammy nominee, and Tony Award winner has earned her Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

55 years ago, after graduating from college, Melba got her start on Broadway as Dionne in the original production of Hair, and won a Tony Award in 1970 for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her role in Purlie.

Her journey is covered in prolific achievements on Billboard, in musicals and films. She’s the first Black actress to star as Fantine in “Les Misérables,” and her recording of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” holds a special place of honor in The Library of Congress National Recording Registry.

In this interview, I spoke with Melba about her legacy, her latest album “Imagine” and what Black Excellence means to her.

Lynnecia: Thank you for joining me today Ms. Moore. Instead of going back to the beginning, I’d like to start with the right now. Pretty soon you are going to be celebrating the one year anniversary of your latest album “Imagine”. Over the past 40 years you’ve had many Top 10 hits. You’re revered as one of the most enduring artists of this century. How would you describe this recent project and how often do you get to perform now?

Melba: I get to perform all the time. There are many singles being released from the album and with each release you get to perform and bring attention to the album. The album is a family project. The title cut “Imagine” is something that’s very beautiful. It was written by Rahni Song, Chantel Hampton and Max Barjona, and there is an incredible guitar feature that is so beautiful that I want to bring attention to it.

So much so that when you hear it you really don’t care who’s singing it because the music brings you into it. It’s so energetic and soothing. The words touch you and give you something to think about. As the phrase says “as a man thinks, so is he”.

Lynnecia: ABSOLUTELY! Now you know I have listened to the single, and Imagine is about like you said peace and love and envisioning a world that is much better than what we may be experiencing. Do you have any words of wisdom that you would share regarding art and music’s influence on promoting positive aspects of our experiences?

Melba: I don’t want to try to censor anybody on what they should listen to, but art and music has an effect on you. That’s what God made it for. It permeates the environment. So if you listen to sweet good things, you’re going to have sweet good positive thoughts. If you listen to the opposite, it’s going to affect you that way. So I just warn listeners about that. When you go and listen to things and then ask “why do I feel like this”? Well… it could be the music you’re listening to.

I want my music to have a very good effect on people. I’m a musician, I’m a technician, I’ve taught music, so I’ve become familiar with some of the aspects of music that affects you. So I feel like it’s my responsibility to say “listen to this” or “don’t listen to that” and engage listeners with positive songs. Music is really about communicating with each other. It’s not my story or your story, it’s us really sharing a story. It’s a conversation. You hear the singer’s point of view and as you listen you play the role of the other party.

Lynnecia: I love that! On top of your music accomplishments, and so many firsts; you have had an extensive career on Broadway, TV, and Movies. Is there any one area or project that you are most passionate about?

Melba: No. (laughs) I’ll explain that. I feel that there are some areas in everyone’s life that have a dominance. And that might be your anointing or gift, but they’ll bring other gifts so you don’t want to choose one over the other. You want to discover perhaps where their proper place should be. The goal is to find your gift and your order. For me music is first, but I don’t choose that first. If I respect music and take care of it, it keeps coming back and God keeps showing me how to stay healthy and or how to let younger people reinvent me. My beginning era is completed. Young people help me reinvent myself over and over again. And that’s because music is first for me, but I take care of it as a gift that I understand and use it responsibly. Now I’m a movie star and actress, and I’ll tell you a little bit about how that happened. I didn’t start with music, I started from a broken family. My natural father was a famous musician. A band leader named Teddy Hill who managed Minton’s Playhouse, a jazz club in Harlem, which is still standing and one of the birthplaces of beatbox. So music is in my DNA which is one of the reasons why I pay attention to it. I didn’t have anything to do with my birth, but my mother married my stepfather, Clement Leroy Moorman, who was a piano player and musician, who had two children and when they married I now had a sister and brother that became my first community. So I say thank you to the forces that be for being a part of a musical family who helped me discover at a very young age that I had a voice.

Lynnecia: I love that you see yourself like many younger women like me see you. You’ve made a path that those of us coming behind you can see what the other side looks like and also have a choice to follow our individual gifts.

Ms. Moore, you’re a history-making legend finally receiving your star on the Hollywood walk of fame, a well deserved honor. With Soigne’ + Swank Magazine, we pride ourselves on providing a space that curates and promotes black excellence; what does the term black excellence mean to you?

Melba: Well… I’m getting to see that it doesn’t mean that you’re not excellent if people don’t recognize it, but it’s a particular privilege to be recognized and documented because of the things that you do. So I want to give humility and gratitude for that. There’s so many who have done way more than me and you’ll never hear of them. But the excitement that I’ve experienced by being amongst people like Xernona Clayton, Civil Rights Leader, and Mary McLeod Bethune, or James Weldon Johnson, who wrote Lift Every Voice and Sing – you get a sense that there’s a bar and it’s very high. Even if you don’t know what that bar is, you want to think about yourself in terms of “did I do my best”, or “can I do better”.

Lynnecia: You’re right and I think that’s the excellence part of it. Like you said, it’s not about the recognition. There’s so many people doing excellent things and being excellent in their own right that don’t get the recognition. So being in a space to say “hey, I receive all of this, but have you all heard of James Weldon Johnson” is a whole other level to highlighting the excellence of our community.

Now talking about lessons and passing on wisdom, can you share an encouraging word about overcoming a challenging barrier on your journey to success and where you are today?

Melba: One of the barriers that I think that I’ve been allowed to pass through is understanding entrepreneurism and business as it relates to artistry. From the moment we were brought here – we didn’t come here, we were brought here, we’ve faced inequities, slavery, and racism as challenges.

The area of sports and entertainment has for so long been the constant means of releasing us from our shackles and chains. How you break the barrier is to understand that there is God. He’s speaking to you, and He wants everything good for you, and somehow you have to make sure you are hearing His voice. That way you can be free in any space that you are in to do your absolute best. Be excellent; you don’t have to wait for someone to make room for you.

Lynnecia: Now Ms. Moore, today we are both wearing red in celebration of National Heart Month and recently you walked the runway in NY at the American Heart Associations’ Go Red for Women event. Why and How important is it to raise awareness for heart disease?

Melba: One of the things I really didn’t know was that heart disease is the biggest killer of women above everything else, alongside strokes. But I do know and understand that it’s all preventable. You can improve your lifestyle by simply getting up and walking, any form of movement. Your diet is also extremely important. We get a lot of pointers on how we can improve our diets and one of the basic things is that all that fat back and bacon is not good. You have to have some fatty foods but you can choose avocados, nuts and fish. Don’t deny yourself, but figure out what can help you and what your individual body needs. It’s so great that heart disease and stroke is almost totally preventable, and in some cases even if you’ve had it, it can be reversed.

“I am so grateful I took part in the #RedDressCollection. @GoRedforWomen is taking steps not just to raise awareness that stroke impacts black women disproportionately, but to change the course of heart disease and stroke for Black women. Their work saves lives.”

Melba Moore

Lynnecia: Yes Melba, noted! Less bacon, more fish and avocados (laughter!)

I appreciate this time we’ve spent together. Let us know what’s next. You’re constantly reinventing yourself. Is there anything that you have coming up where we may catch a performance?

Melba: I have lots and lots of concerts coming out of the Imagine album. I’ve been all around performing the first single “So in Love” and recently “Imagine” and I’ve been invited to many more concerts all over the world to sing. Last year I received President Biden’s Lifetime Achievement Award with his community service and volunteerism recognition, and this year I’m getting my Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I’ll also be touring a bunch of HBCUs and with a partnership with New Jersey’s Got Talent, they will be promoting my family tree as a part of Black History. I’m just going to be out here uplifting the Black family!

Be sure to stream Melba Moore latest album “Imagine”, available on all music platforms.