| The David Nathan Pages |
MELBA MOORE: SOULFUL SOPHISTICATION April 1975, In person interview conducted by David Nathan at Buddah Records’ offices on Broadway in New York City Melba Moore had achieved recognition in the U.S. thanks to her work on Broadway in musicals such as “Purlie”; she was beginning to establish as a recording artist in the pop and R&B fields when she spoke with David on the occasion of the release of a Buddah album… (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises, All rights reserved |
Like most everyone else, you’re probably under the impression that the name Melba Moore is more synonymous with Broadway, Las
Vegas, supper clubs and Hollywood than with hit R&B records, tours with Al Green and Black Heat and Gene McDaniels’ produced
albums! Well, having come face to face with this very attractive young lady (whose current Buddah album “Peach Melba” is an apt
description of how she looks too!), I can let you know that your first impression is now erroneous. Mind you, it hasn’t always been and
Melba is the first to admit it. “I guess people feel I’m doing everything backwards. As you know, normally you’d go from records to
Broadway if that was your thing, but I started out on Broadway and now I’m trying to get over on records and expand my audience
beyond what’s previously been expected. People always tend to label you and I guess having been in shows like “Hair” and “Purlie”
(which is the role that really established Melba in terms of audience acceptance and forged the way for her career) people have tended
to question my ‘blackness’. But you see, if you go back to the beginning, I originally wanted to be an opera singer! When I realized that
being black would be such a barrier to making it in that field, I decided to branch in to pop and everyone told me I was too ‘legitimate’! I
had to constantly reassure people of my identity, of my ‘soul’ and, yes, it was hard.”
Although Melba has achieved a very considerable amount in a remarkably short time (she’s only a six-year veteran of the whole
business!), she says people are talking right now in terms of a comeback. Some explanation needed: “Basically, I guess the problem
has been that I haven’t been handled properly on a management basis, which is why I never got into recording in a sensible way, why I’
ve never been out there to promote myself to that whole big audience which puts me in the ‘Broadway bag’. People have tended to
accept only the part of me they’ve seen and don’t believe I’m necessarily capable of doing other things musically. But because I wasn’t
being properly taken care of, I just wasn’t reaching a whole spectrum of people”...
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| MELBA MOORE 1975 Interview (MM-75-2007) Conducted by David Nathan, (c) 2007, David Nathan/SCI Enterprises |
