Tony Winner Melba Moore Honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Award-winning performer Melba Moore will be honored on August 10, with the 2,760th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The star will be unveiled at 1645 Vine Street near the historic corner of Hollywood & Vine. Moore will be awarded her star in the category of Live Theatre/Live Performance. You can watch the live stream including a tribute by Sheryl Lee Ralph, here at 11:30am PT, 2:30 pm ET. 

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce administers the legendary Hollywood Walk of Fame for the City of Los Angeles and has proudly hosted globally iconic ceremonies for decades.  Millions of people from here and around the world have visited this cultural landmark since 1960.

“We are very proud to honor Melba Moore who has lent her beautiful 5-octave voice to various genres of music. Not only is she an entertainer, she is an activist, a trailblazer and so much more” stated Walk of Fame Producer, Ana Martinez. “We know that many of her long-time fans will be lining up the day of her ceremony to see this musical gem as she is honored with her well-deserved Walk of Fame star” added Martinez.

Melba Moore is an American prolific 5-octave singer, TONY Award-winning actress, and a four-time Grammy-nominated artist.  She has conquered the genres of Broadway, Contemporary Soul/R&B, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Gospel, and Classical music.

Destined to be a star and with no training as an actor, Moore started out her Broadway career in the original cast of HAIR, where she replaced Diane Keaton, becoming the first African-American woman to replace a white actress in a lead role.   She would later solidify her place in America’s heart with her Tony Award-winning performance as LuttieBelle GussieMae Jenkins in Purlie.

Her other Broadway works include Timbuktu alongside Eartha Kitt and directed by Geoffrey Holder, Inacent Black, Ain’t Misbehavin, BKLYN, Chicago, and Les Miserables, setting another first when she became the first Black woman to play the lead role of Fantine.

Moore’s success only continued to expand with her recording career.  Her cover of her friend Aretha Franklin’s classic Lean On Me earned her a Grammy nomination and has become just one of her signature songs.  Her hit Read My Lips made her the first African-American woman nominated for a Grammy in the Rock category.  Melba Moore was the first solo artist to perform a non-operatic concert at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House, and she has also performed at the L’Olympia Hall in Paris, France.  She has received the prestigious Drama Desk Award, The Ellis Island Award, The Artist Guild Award, The Trumpet Award of Excellence, A History Makers Tribute, and invitations to the White House under Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan  and to perform for the United Nations General Assembly.

Melba Moore is an entertainer who also happens to be a civil and equal rights activist, as well as an outspoken advocate for minorities’, children’s, and women’s rights. She marched arm in arm with Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Rev. Jesse Jackson, and worked closely with Dr. Betty Shabazz, Dr. Dorothy I. Height (National Council of Negro Women), and Dr. C. Delores Tucker (National Political Congress of Black Women).

Melba Moore’s 1990 version of Lift Every Voice and Sing, which she recorded with Bebe and Cece Winans, Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Anita Baker, Bobby Brown, Gerald Albright, Freddie Jackson, Howard Hewitt, Jeffrey Osborne, The Clark Sisters, Terri Lyne Carrington, Stephanie Mills,  Take 6, video directed by Debbie Allen and featuring Jasmine Guy, and narration by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Lou Gossett Jr., was entered into the Congressional Record as the official Black National Anthem. In 2017, it was added to the United States National Recording Registry and preserved by the Library of Congress as an “American Aural Treasure” alongside Barbara Streisand’s People and David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust.  Moore’s latest work is her new album titled Imagine which was released in April last year.  Moore continues to delight fans with performances at home and abroad.