Ever since she replaced Diane Keaton in Hair, becoming the first African-American woman to replace a white actress on Broadway, Melba Moore has been a star. From her Tony Award-winning performance in Purlie to co-starring with Eartha Kitt in Timbuktu to playing Fantine in Les Misérables, she has been an audience favorite along the Great White Way. A regular on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Ms. Moore headlined her own variety show on CBS, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist, was the first female pop artist to do a non-operatic solo concert at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House and even had two #1 hit singles on Billboard.

Reviews of Melba Moore:
• Stephen Holden, The New York Times: “Melba Moore is a one-woman sound machine… (A) theatrical jazz diva… she turned songs into sonic exhibitions in which emotion was superseded by extreme vocal display.”
• Cabaret Scenes: “Over 40 years after her smashing Broadway appearances in Hair and Purlie, Moore remains svelte, trim and in vigorous voice. With a five-octave range, her songs scoot and skim from soprano heights to deep alto depths.”
• Los Angeles Times: “Melba Moore Powerful in Comeback Bid”
• Variety: “The lady is a buoyant force of nature. She has lost none of her spunk and charm and has retained the escalating strength of that remarkable four-octave range. Her songs are laced with considerable emotional involvement. What shines through in Moore’s (performance) is a persuasive clarity of purpose and enveloping personal warmth

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