Melba Moore Featured In New Documentary, CD And Book To Follow

Tony Award winner Melba Moore ("Purlie") is the focus of an new episode of TV One documentary series, "UnSung". The episode Premieres Sunday, June 14 at 8 PM ET, repeating at 11 PM, as well as Thursday, June 18 at 10 PM, and Friday, June 19 at noon and midnight.

It was recently announced that Melba Moore has a new album and book in the works. The book, "Still Standing: The Melba Moore Story," shares the title of her recent nationally touring one-woman musical, and the album,"The Gift of Love," will contain duets with singer/songwriter Phil Perry.

In a recently interview with The News Observer, Moore discussed the upcoming documentary. When asked if it was difficult to speak about her life experiences, Moore replied "I've been going through this process for over 10 years, trying to prove I'm not a crack head, that I'm not crazy, whatever people were told. When you do these kinds of [documentaries], you can be afraid or sensitive. You have to talk."

To read the entire interview with Melba Moore, click here.

Press notes describe the "UnSung" episodes as "Melba Moore - A tremendously versatile talent, she was a Tony Award-winning actress in her 20s, and a Grammy-nominated R&B recording artist in her 30s, and it seemed her career ascent was limitless until a series of devastating personal and financial setbacks knocked her out of the spotlight in the late 1980s. But Moore fought her way back, and even turned the dramatic details of her life into a successful one person show."

In celebration of Black Music Month, TV One will premiere each Sunday in June four new episodes of Unsung, its acclaimed original series of one-hour biographies that celebrates the lives and careers of successful artists or groups who, despite great talent, over the years have been under-recognized or under-appreciated. Everyone recognizes the name of Aretha, Whitney, Diana, Stevie, and Marvin. But the full picture of black music in America is much larger than those acknowledged superstars, and many of the greatest have failed to achieve that same level of superstardom.

UnSung is narrated by actor Gary Anthony Williams and will reveal the multiple factors that kept these artists from achieving the iconic commercial status they deserved. And, in the process, these specials will "sing" the praises and celebrate the artistry that has kept fellow artists and fans talking about them for years. Featuring exclusive interviews, musical clips and archival footage, each episode will investigate the stories of these pivotal artists, their journey through music and their perhaps unexpected influence on the music of today.

The episodes are executive-produced by Arthur Smith, Kent Weed and Frank Sinton of A. Smith & Co. Productions. Mark Rowland is Co-Executive Producer. Executive in charge of production for TV One is Jubba Seyyid.

A. Smith & Co. produced for TV One four episodes of Unsung featuring DeBarge, Donny Hathaway, Phyllis Hyman and the Clark Sisters, that aired as a series of specials in fall 2008. The four Unsung premieres were viewed by a total 1.1 million people, and the Phyllis Hyman premiere was TV One's highest-rated original program in 2008 and ranked number one in its time slot among ad-supported cable networks for both African-American households and for African-American adults 25-54.

Launched in January 2004, TV One (www.tvoneonline.com) serves more than 47.6 million households (Nielsen May 2009 estimate), offering a broad range of lifestyle and entertainment-oriented original programming, classic series, movies, fashion and music designed to entertain, inform and inspire a diverse audience of adult African American viewers. TV One's investors include Radio One [NASDAQ: ROIA and ROIAK; www.radio-one.com], the largest radio company that primarily targets African American and urban listeners; Comcast Corporation [NASDAQ: CMCSA and CMCSK; www.comcast.com], the leading cable television company in the country; The DirecTV Group; Constellation Ventures; Syndicated Communications; and Opportunity Capital Partners.

For more information on Melba Moore visit www.melbamoore.com