Today Good Black News celebrates a milestone birthday for soul diva Melba Moore with a Spotify playlist entitled “This Is It! The Ultimate Melba Moore Playlist” that spans her 50+ year career from a rare mid-‘60s recording now popular on Britain’s Northern Soul scene to her latest song – a house music infused dance track from this past summer.
We’ve got all the necessary hits in-between as well, from Broadway showcases to her huge ‘70s disco singles to her mid ‘80s soul duets to her gospel turn in the new millennium. Here is the playlist:
In fact, for Melba’s 75th, we’ve got 75 great songs. And because some sources suggest a different birth year, we’ve actually thrown in some bonus tracks just in case – any excuse to include a few added songs, because in this case, the more Melba Moore, the merrier!
Born into a family of musicians, Melba’s mother was Gertrude Melba Smith, a singer who performed under the name Bonnie Davis – and actually hit #1 on the Harlem Hit Parade chart in 1943 with the song “Don’t Stop Now.” Her father was saxophonist Teddy Hill who had his own prominent big band. And Melba’s stepfather, Clem Moorman, whose last name she later adapted for her own stage name, was a pianist who ultimately performed with her mother.
We know where you were last night. Millions of fans of a certain age were enjoying the stay-at-home celebration dubbed by the internet as “AuntieChella,” as Gladys Knight and Patti Labelle ‘battled’ it out on Instagram/Apple Music‘s “Verzuz” series.
Verzuz was created a few months ago by hitmaking producers Timbaland and Swizz Beatz as a way for music fans to honor their greats while relaxing at home during these quarantine times.
For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, the sessions are not truly a ‘battle’ – but rather an occasion for two legends to get together (whether in real life like last night, or virtually) and banter about their careers while having a listening party of the greatest hits of each artist.
The battle was epic, with both ladies, now in their late ’70s, decked out in stylish pantsuits, and sharing their love for each other amidst career stories, lots of live singing, and plenty of chair grooving.
Michelle Obama, Oprah, and Queen Latifah were tuned in to hear such hits as “Midnight Train to Georgia,” “Over the Rainbow,” “You Are My Friend” and ‘The Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me.”
Gladys honored all phases of her career, delving back into her early doo-wop hit “Every Beat of My Heart,” her Motown Pips years with “Friendship Train,” her ’80s hits like “Love Overboard” and the Bond theme “License to Kill.”
Patti focused on her material from her solo years, mixing ballad favorites like “Somebody Loves You Baby” and “If Only You Knew” with uptempo hits like “The Right Kinda Lover” and “Feels Like Another One.”
The evening was capped off when Dionne Warwick surprised the audience with a special appearance to end the show, as they joined her to sing “That’s What Friends Are For” and their hit version of “Superwoman.”
The three of them had previously worked together on a special called “Sisters in the Name of Love” that Gladys had produced for HBO in the late ’80s (there are some fan posts of it on YouTube that offer some thrilling harmonies).
Gladys, Dionne, Patti
Of course with these vets, even a couple of hours of hits doesn’t come close to diving into their full careers. So in case you were ready for more, we’ve done that work for you – pairing up additional Patti and Gladys hits and deep tracks from the rest of their six decade careers for GBN’s latest playlist: “Gladys Knight Verzuz Patti Labelle – The Best of the Rest.”
We’ve gone beyond the biggest hits, and focused solely on extensive additional material they did not cover during last night’s show.
While Patti and Gladys both hit the charts for the first time in the very early ’60s – their careers have actually taken very divergent paths before, in more recent years, they’ve ended up as favorite Aunties to the Black community.
