Melba Moore

Melba Moore

Melba Moore entered show business when she replaced Diane Keaton in the original Broadway production of Hair (1968), the first time an African American took over for a white entertainer on Broadway. By the age of 25, she had won a Tony Award for her work in the musical Purlie (1970). Stage success led to a recording and acting career, as well as a production business but divorce proceedings during the 1990s ruined Moore financially, and her career stalled. Through perseverance, however, her career resumed. She has appeared on Broadway in Les Miserables (1996), and released the album Happy Together (1996). In 1998, Moore toured the United States in a one-woman autobiographical musical show, Sweet Songs of the Soul. Her most recent movie role was in The Last Temptations (2003).