Vinyl Professor Dot Blog

There’s more to Moore’s career than Misty Blue.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1946, her singing career started well before her success in the mid 1970’s. She was introduced to singing by her parents. Her Dad sang with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi and her Mom sang in church.  When she was five, her great-grandmother encouraged Dorothy to began singing at the New Strangers Baptist Church in Jackson.

The rest, as they say, is history.

 In 1966 she was the lead singer of The Poppies; Billy Sherrill was their producer. Lullaby of Love reached #56 on Billboard and #25 in Canada.  Locally in Southern Ontario, it did not chart in Toronto on 1050 CHUM, but did chart in Hamilton on the 1150 CKOC Fabulous Forty in March of 1966, reaching #31.

After The Poppies, Dorothy Moore continued working as a back up singer. She sang on recordings by Johnnie Taylor, King Floyd, Irma Thomas and Jean Knight. That’s Dorothy singing the “Oh Yeahs” and “Whoops” on Mr. Big Stuff:

Her debut solo album, Misty Blue, was released in early 1976 by Malaco Records. The title track was a song that had already been a country hit for Wilma Burgess (#4, 1966) and Eddy Arnold (#3, 1967). Moore recorded the song (in one take) in 1973, but her record company didn’t know what to do with the song. Her version of Misty Blue reached #1 in Southern Ontario on both 1150 CKOC and 1050 CHUM. It was also nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1976.

Moore returned to the pop charts with her soulful interpretation of Willie Nelson’s Funny How Time Slips Away (1976) and I Believe You (1977), written by the Addrissi Brothers.

While she wasn’t able to match the success of Misty Blue on the Billboard Hot 100, Moore did return to the Billboard R&B charts a dozen times between 1976-1991.

Dorothy Moore is a member of both the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame. She even has a marker in her honour along the Mississippi Blues Trail. She’s in good company; other notables on the trail include Arthur Cruddup, The Staple Singers, Johnny Winter, B.B. King, Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Bo Diddley.

I had the chance to interview Dorothy Moore in 2012. We talked about how she was discovered by a knock on the door, her work with her own record label, Farrish Street Records, and why the success of Misty Blue made her feel like a child “going to the fair.”

This interview was originally heard on Oldies Without Borders.

Enjoy!

Copyright Peter J. Maurin, The Vinyl Professor. Published under Creative Commons License: Attribution/Non-Commercial Use.

Full Photo Credit: Marcia Weaver – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16494741