1945 (1940-1942*) –
Melba Moore is a Tony award winning, Grammy nominated singer who had many top hits in the 1970s and 1980s.
Melba Moore was born Beatrice Melba Smith, in New York. When she was 9, her mother married Newark jazz pianist Clem Moorman and she moved to Newark. The family lived at 283 Rose Street by 1950 and later at 76 Custer Ave. She also attended multiple Newark churches including Queen of Angels and Abyssinian Baptist.
In Newark, Melba attended Waverly Avenue School, Cleveland Place Junior High, Arts High, and Montclair State Teacher’s College. She graduated Arts High in 1958 and is listed as “B Melba Smith”.
Melba taught as an itinerant teacher around the Newark Public Schools from kindergarten to high school. She did the most teaching at Peshine Avenue. She also taught at South Side where she said she was inspired by longtime teacher Dorothy I. Schneider. At Peshine, she was frustrated when mostly-White schools received more supplies.
In 1959 “Melba Smith” appears in Trend magazine, participating in a beauty contest, this is likely Melba Moore, as she will use this name in the 1960s.
In 1963 and 1964 the Newark News mentions her 3 times under the name Melba Smith. In 1963, she appears in a concert on “Negro History” with Voices Inc, and is listed as a “Newark teacher.” In March 1964, she appears in a NAACP show at the Mosque with Voices Inc. In Nov 1964, she appears with Voices in a concert at Barringer with the News calling her, “24 year old Melba Smith of 76 Custer Ave.” Also in 1964, she did a dramatic presentation with Voices Inc for the Mississippi Freedom Project.
Melba was featured in the Star Ledger in Nov 1964 where they wrote, “membership in the Voices Musical Teacher suits Newark’s Melba Smith to a ‘ti’”.
The Star Ledger first uses the name “Melba Moore” in 1969 with an article by Nancy Razen “Melba Moore finds an ace in the hole”. In the article Melba said, “My folks are in the show business so they advised me to be reasonable”. The Newark News mentions the name “Melba Moore” in 1968 in a profile on her brother Elliott Moorman.
In 1967, Melba would get her big break starring in Hair on Broadway, where she would become the first Black actress to replace a white actress in a Broadway role, when she later replaced Diane Keaton in the role of Sheila. She would then win a Tony in 1970 for her performance in Purlie and her career took off from there. In a 1970, New York Sunday News profile she expressed “outgrowing” Newark and her frustrations with the city, however, as she grew older she had fond memories and still kept connections to the city.
Bibliography
“Melba Moore Biography”. Thehistorymakers.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2011. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
Moore, Melba This Is It Book Talk, Newark Library, Nov 5, 2025
Featured photo, 1969, CFCNJIC, Newark Picture Collection, Newark Library
Ken Gibson Photo Collection, Newark Library
Newark City Directories, Newark Library
“Concert Set” Newark News Aug 9, 1963
“Four for the Show” Newark News Mar 14, 1964
“Voices Concert at Barringer” Newark News Nov 18, 1964
Mississippi Freedom Project, 1964
“Talented singing group suits teacher to a t” Star Ledger Nov 15, 1964
Razen, Nancy “”Melba Moore finds an ace in the hole” Star Ledger Jan 12, 1969
“Name in the News” Newark News Apr 28, 1968
Wilson, Earl “Back From Paris” Newark News March 16, 1970
Berliner, David “Melba Makes The Scene” Newark News Sept 7, 1969
Newark Library Digital Collections (2)
*Widely cited as 1945, but this would make her highschool graduation age 13. 1950 census says 1941. 1950 census lists: Clement Moorman with wife Melba, children Clementine age 11, Dennis age 10, and Melba age 9 — NYC Birth Index shows Beatrice M Smith born Jan 7, 1942. Additionally, multiple articles list her as “24 years old” in 1964, placing her birthdate around 1940.
“Love Singer Has Little for Newark” Newark Sunday News May 24, 1970