Photography courtesy of Eskine Isaac/I-vision Photo and The Gallery Entertainment
In a world where legends are often defined by their accolades, Melba Moore stands apart for her courage to reveal the woman behind the voice. From her early days teaching in Newark to the bright lights of Broadway and the stages of the world, Melba has lived many lives—each one marked by reinvention, faith and fierce perseverance. Now, as she turns a new page with the release of her long-awaited memoir, she invites us to witness not just her triumphs, but her humanity.
With honesty and grace, Melba reflects on a journey that has taken her from tqhe classroom to the concert hall, from heartbreak to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Guided by wisdom, resilience, and an unshakable belief in divine timing, she shares how every setback became a stepping stone. Her words are not simply a recollection—they are a revelation.
In conversation, Melba radiates both strength and humility. She speaks of faith and friendship, of mentors and music, of the delicate balance between the public persona and the private woman. Through it all, she remains deeply committed to inspiring others to rise, to try, and to rediscover their own voices.
As she says, “The story of my life is reinventing, backing up, and starting over again.” With this book, Melba Moore proves that her greatest performance has always been the one called life.
What inspired you to write this book now, at this point in your remarkable journey?
My daughter told me it was time I had a book. That everybody in my age category had one. I asked her where to start. She spearheaded it. She found the ghost writer. They actually help you write and outline it. We assumed it would be an autobiography. Because that’s all you hear about. And if you’re not experienced, that’s where you start. But Kevin told us that would take a long time. He suggested we start with something a little narrower. And so we did the memoirs.
When you look back on your early years in music and Broadway, what moments still feel the most alive to you as you were writing?
The beginning. How I got into it in the first place. Because my first job was in a public school as a teacher in Newark, New Jersey. Which is a far stretch from broadway. That was the first thing that impressed me. How things actually happened. Looking back on it, tens of thousands have seen me publicly but they don’t know you. They only know the part that is finished and polished, well rehearsed and well-dressed. So no one knew that I was so smart and I planned this all out. But the story is that it didn’t quite happen that way.
Your story is filled with both triumph and challenge—how did revisiting those experiences on the page affect you emotionally?
It was more than emotionally. It involved other people. If I’m just talking about what happened to me but nothing happened in the background, now the good thing is fine you can mention everybody. You can name drop. But when some of the things are kind of negative you have to be careful what you say because you could hurt other people. That has been the greatest challenge. Because there were a lot of downfalls that I had to recover from. But that is what makes a story interesting and of course a memoir interesting. The triumphs, we broadcast those. But the downfalls are not all known and you can’t tell them all. I want to say something for the biography, it involves other people and it’s not meant to hurt anyone. It’s not a tell all kind of book. Downfalls and Triumphs, How You Got Up. It’s my story. I don’t want to inadvertently tell somebody else’s story.
Was there a particular chapter or memory that was hardest to write, yet most important for you to share?
Kind of like where I am today. I have a great deal of triumphs to share. I just got on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I get paid attention to because I was very instrumental in getting the Negro National into the Congressional Record. But some of the downfalls are still kind of affecting me. I can’t really talk about them. But those are the greatest challenges. They affect you emotionally too because they involve things that were very devastating and hurtful. In some cases people lost their wives. So it is a very serious matter to consider about how you culminate the book and let you know there’s more to come first of all. I’m not trying to tell you the whole story. Because if I don’t say that people will assume -well what happened here? I hope we ask the right questions about what’s happening next. But also there are some things that are public knowledge that I’m not talking about. Some people will say she’s not telling the whole story, and no I’m not telling the whole story.
You’ve broken barriers as a woman of color in entertainment—what message do you hope younger generations will take from your story?
Try hard even though you’re scared. Even though you may not have what people say are all the requirements to have success. Try to investigate what it is you want to do and try to get some good counsel. But I would say try. You never know. Sometimes things happen in ways we can’t anticipate.
How does writing a book compare to performing on stage—does it offer a similar sense of connection or release?
It is very different. You know why it’s very different, because I haven’t really had the experience of facing people that have read this book yet. That is going to be more comparable to performing on the stage. On stage you rehearse. You got a concept. All these processes you may try to piece out to get a feel of what it is going to be. But I don’t have that here.
I think that’s going to be the telltale. When you’re standing in front of people you can have a whole reaction from them. I had that experience with a song that I absolutely adore. I stood up in front of some people that absolutely adored it. Then I realized there’s some other things that somebody else has recorded that is going to be compared to you. They have another whole story to bring behind it. There is so much more than just how do you feel about it. You’re only half of the story and then there’s the people’s response. I believe it’s going to be successful because my career has been successful. And people want to know about it. But as to actually how they’re going to respond to the book, I believe it’s going to be positive. But you just don’t know.
Many of your fans have followed you through every phase of your career. What new truths or surprises will they discover about Melba Moore in this book?
Absolutely. I think that is why the book is going to be successful. People are going to assume that they knew but realize they thought they knew but they really didn’t know. I think that’s going to be the success of this book. You thought one way, or you assumed this or I gave you part of it but you had no idea the other part was so surprising.
Faith, perseverance and reinvention seem to define much of your journey—how have those themes shaped not just your life, but your voice as a storyteller?
Well, you know you can’t really separate them. You don’t have a story to tell unless you live a life. The story of my life is reinventing, backing up and starting over again. Persevering. That is the story of my life.
If you could have one reader—past, present or future—discover your book, who would it be and what would you want them to feel when they close the final page?
Oh, it would be a couple of people. It would be someone like Dr. Cissy Houston. It would be Pastor Shirley Caesar. And I’ll tell you why. Because when I was having some really, really difficult moments and there was no one that I could really share that with, I spent private moments with them. They shared with me the wisdom and difficulties they went through. They actually work together. Pastor Shirley, she’s in gospel music. We were at the Oprah big party and she asked me who that was over there? And I said that’s Mary J Blige. Pastor Shirley is at the top of gospel. She’s a woman of God. She’s really important to me. We are personal friends. Just by nature of her work, she doesn’t have anything to do with people she calls seculars. So I will want her to read my book. Because she would be really proud of me as a woman of God. She is a person I kind of have as an idol.
After completing this deeply personal project, how do you see your legacy today—and what’s next for Melba Moore, the woman beyond the legend?
Well, it’s deeply private and personal. Not a secret but I’ve wanted to touch people. With things they don’t talk about. Not that they’re ashamed, necessarily. They could be. I want people to look at their inner selves and see who they are. We have so much interplay, which is good. But at certain points, you need to be on your own or you don’t know who you are. You get measured with everybody else and you lose your identity. I want them to take a similar journey that I am taking. See who they are. They are going to find out that they’re great people.
