Melba Moore speech at her Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony
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Singer and actress Melba Moore speech at her Hollywood Walk of Fame Star unveiling ceremony held at the 1645 Vine Street in Los Angeles, California USA on August 10, 2023. This video is only available for editorial use on Broadcast TV, online, and worldwide platforms. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us. ©MaximoTV
Singer and actress Melba Moore speech at her Hollywood Walk of Fame Star unveiling ceremony held at the 1645 Vine Street in Los Angeles, California USA on August 10, 2023. This video is only available for editorial use on Broadcast TV, online, and worldwide platforms. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us. ©MaximoTV
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PeopleTranscript
00:00 (chimes tinkling)
00:03 - We've heard some wonderful speeches,
00:05 and now how about we hear from the queen herself.
00:10 I'd now like to present our newest
00:13 Walk of Famer, Melba Moore!
00:16 (audience cheering)
00:29 - I promise not to scream.
00:30 (screaming)
00:35 I lied!
00:35 This was never in my radar.
00:41 I never had any thoughts or dreams
00:43 about being on Hollywood Vine in the pavement.
00:46 Seriously, it's so amazing.
00:51 I don't really have words,
00:52 but I wrote a few things down
00:54 because I knew that I would get so dumbfounded.
00:57 I wouldn't be able to say anything.
00:59 So I hope I'm telling you a few things
01:03 that you haven't been told already.
01:06 I was born in Harlem Hospital, New York City,
01:11 to a single parent mother.
01:13 Her first profession was as a big band singer.
01:19 My father's name was Teddy Hill.
01:22 He was a well-known big band leader,
01:26 and he also managed Mittens Playhouse,
01:29 one of the most famous jazz nightclubs in Harlem
01:32 during the bebop and modern jazz era.
01:34 Musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis,
01:37 and many, many other jazz greats
01:39 played at Mittens Playhouse
01:41 and in my father Teddy Hill's band.
01:43 As a matter of fact, Mittens Playhouse is still open.
01:46 My mother and daddy never married.
01:50 Excuse me, my mother and Teddy Hill never married.
01:53 Mother traveled a lot, and she was away from our home a lot.
01:57 So you might say I was a product
01:59 of an absentee father and mother.
02:02 Plus, she brought my grandmother, her mother,
02:06 to New York from Birmingham, Alabama
02:08 to try to take care of her
02:10 because my grandmother had had strokes.
02:13 So mother hired someone to take care of me and grandma.
02:16 Her name was Lulu Hawkins.
02:21 We called her Mama Lu.
02:23 She was orphaned, illiterate,
02:26 and of course, she was a domestic.
02:28 We don't know when or where she was born.
02:32 We don't know anything about her family.
02:34 But the last place she remembered living
02:37 and growing up and working
02:38 was Salisbury, North Carolina
02:40 on somebody's sharecropper farm.
02:43 She made it to New York City working as a housekeeper
02:45 for a family that was coming to New York.
02:48 I know this because of all the stories
02:50 that she used to tell me about that
02:52 and about her picking cotton and tobacco
02:55 and chopping bacca and slaughtering hogs
02:59 and all that kind of stuff.
03:00 Now, the reason I'm focusing on Mama Lu for just a moment
03:05 is because first of all, she raised me.
03:09 Second of all, she's probably the reason
03:12 that I won the Tony Award for my portrayal
03:14 of Ludibel Gussie Mae Jenkins
03:16 as an orphan, illiterate, domestic
03:19 on Broadway in the musical "Pearly."
03:21 (audience cheering)
03:23 People thought I had studied acting,
03:25 but I was just imitating Mama Lu.
03:26 Mother met a gentleman from Newark, New Jersey
03:31 named Clem Mormon.
03:33 He was a piano player
03:34 and he had a group called the Piccadilly Pipers.
03:37 He hired Mother to be the lead singer.
03:41 That's when she gave herself the stage name Bonnie Davis.
03:45 She made several recordings under that name too.
03:48 But they fell in love and got married.
03:52 So me, Mama Lu, grandma, mother moved to Newark, New Jersey
03:57 to live with my new stepdad and his son, Dennis,
04:04 his daughter, Clementine,
04:05 and later we had two half brothers,
04:08 Elliot and Gerard Mormon.
04:10 I was nine years old at the time.
04:12 So I went from being an only child,
04:15 a very lonely child in a broken family
04:18 with no music to speak of in our lives.
04:21 I went from that to being a part of a whole family,
04:24 a sister, three brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles,
04:28 mother, father, grandparents, relatives of the wazoo.
04:31 And music became the centerpiece of our lives.
04:34 Daddy made all of us kids take piano lessons.
04:38 Sometimes their band, the Piccadilly Pipers,
04:41 would rehearse in our home.
04:43 Can you imagine a live band in your living room?
04:46 I went to arts high school in Newark
04:49 and I majored in vocal music.
04:51 I went to Montclair State Teachers College
04:54 and got a bachelor's arts degree in vocal music education.
04:58 And my first job, my first profession
05:02 was as a Newark public school classroom vocal music teacher.
05:06 Did that for several years and then I said to my parents,
05:10 but I want to be a performer like you.
05:13 So daddy did his best to get me
05:14 into the entertainment industry.
05:17 And so I met a lot of people,
05:19 but one of the people I met was Valerie Simpson.
05:23 And she's the one that got me started
05:25 as a studio backup singer in the entertainment industry.
05:29 Of course, Nick Ashford was there.
05:31 He was just getting started in the industry too
05:34 as a backup singer.
05:37 Can I tell you something?
05:38 Those days was, they were just so much fun.
05:43 One of the recording sessions was for Galt McDermott.
05:46 He wrote the music for the Broadway musical "Hair."
05:50 And he was also the music director.
05:52 He was assisted by the two stars of the play,
05:58 Jim Rado and Jerry Ragni.
06:00 There was still casting
06:02 and the session was about two weeks long.
06:04 So Jim, Jerry, and Galt invited everybody on the session
06:08 to come and sing for the producer and the director
06:11 and promised us places in the play.
06:14 It wasn't really audition.
06:15 They were still looking for strong singers.
06:17 Well, I went and sang for the director and the producer
06:19 and I got in.
06:20 Well, after I had been in the show for a while,
06:24 my friend and fellow cast member, Mary Laurie Davis,
06:28 who's here today,
06:29 and who also is a very loud mouth black young woman,
06:32 sitting right, where are you Mary?
06:34 She's still got a big mouth.
06:37 Mary's very special
06:40 because she said to the producers,
06:42 "How come you all don't never let a black woman
06:44 try out for the lead part?"
06:47 So Jim and Jerry and Galt said,
06:48 "Well, they just had never thought about it."
06:51 So they rehearsed me and let me perform for a matinee.
06:56 And I got the part.
06:59 I got the lead.
07:00 So Mary is the reason I even had a chance
07:03 to try out for the lead.
07:04 So thank you, Mary.
07:06 (audience applauding)
07:10 There are a lot of very talented young ladies
07:12 that played the lead of Sheila in that play,
07:16 but one of them was Diane Keaton.
07:17 So I wound up replacing Diane Keaton.
07:19 Okay, let me see what was I saying here.
07:29 Okay, I did that.
07:36 So I just want to acknowledge my own mind and memory
07:41 'cause I'm very, very nervous up here.
07:42 I never had any thought that I'd be up here doing this,
07:47 but I would say for a hair, it broke all the rules.
07:50 It opened up all the doors for us.
07:52 And I could never have imagined the amazing things
07:55 that have happened to me because of that experience
07:58 along my journey.
07:59 Things that have been mentioned
08:01 like the Melbourne Ward Clifton Davis show,
08:04 my guest appearances on Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson,
08:07 Carol Burnett, Flip Wilson, Bing Crosby, Bill Cosby.
08:12 And I want to thank Jerry Silverheart,
08:18 who's here, who was part of our management.
08:19 Where are you, Jerry?
08:20 Help me say thank you to Jerry, please.
08:25 We did so many things that I'm not able to mention here
08:30 'cause I don't have a memory like he does.
08:33 But I was a guest on soap operas,
08:37 the Academy Awards, just to name a few.
08:40 And I want to say thank you to those that were responsible
08:44 for my very long and successful recording career,
08:47 including a new project that's out now
08:49 that Jimmy Jam was telling you just about now,
08:51 which is headed by my daughter,
08:52 Charlie Huggins and her uncle, Beau.
08:55 Would you stand up, Charlie, so my people can see
08:58 how my beautiful daughter is?
09:02 This new project is on her label.
09:06 It's called Gallery Entertainment.
09:08 It's called Imagine.
09:10 She's just added a new bonus record, which is a cover,
09:15 excuse me, a remake of the classic R&B hit
09:19 by my friends Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
09:23 I'm laughing 'cause I can't even talk.
09:25 I'm too excited and nervous.
09:26 But I got to say this and acknowledge it.
09:28 And this is the first speech I've ever tried to write.
09:31 So hopefully I get a lot more awards
09:32 and I'll learn how to write speeches.
09:34 I can't believe the incredible things
09:37 that are happening to me right now.
09:39 I'm so grateful to be still doing the things
09:42 that I love to do.
09:43 And it still feeds my soul.
09:45 I'm so excited about it.
09:47 I'm grateful for my family being my biggest advocates.
09:50 I'm grateful for Ms. Frida Payne
09:52 for being such a good friend over the years.
09:54 Ms. Sherrilee Ralph.
09:56 Mr. Cat Williams, you are an angel.
10:00 You know what I'm talking about.
10:02 Your kindness, your generosity is unmeasured and unmatched.
10:06 Ms. Lunell, baby, you are one of a kind.
10:08 I love her and I speak with her very often
10:14 only because she's just a good person.
10:15 She just comes in and warms you and lets you know
10:19 that you're somebody that matters to her and to the world.
10:24 She lets you know that you matter on this planet.
10:29 (audience laughing)
10:32 You already know, I wanna say thank you
10:36 to Mr. Richard J. Alexander.
10:39 He's the one who cast me
10:41 as the first black Fontaine in Les Miserables.
10:43 And you know, it's not about a black people.
10:47 It's about a French Revolution.
10:50 So that was very creative casting.
10:52 I wanna say thank you to Ron Richardson here
10:54 who's brought incredible people into my life.
10:57 (audience cheering)
11:00 I wanna say thank you.
11:01 I wanna say thank you to Dean Nice and Club Quarantine
11:05 and the Club Quarantine crew.
11:08 Anybody here from them?
11:09 Cross your feet.
11:14 (screaming)
11:16 How amazing they have been in keeping me out there
11:20 and relevant to everything that's continuing to go on.
11:23 Our society is changing in volatile ways
11:26 and dynamic ways.
11:28 And because somebody like Dean Nice
11:30 and Club Quarantine are there,
11:32 we're part of the mix in a positive, beautiful way,
11:35 continuing to do what we can
11:37 to make society a better place because of our presence.
11:41 I'm grateful for the Huggins Family, Hush Productions,
11:44 Orpheus Entertainment, the Gallery Entertainment.
11:47 I wanna say thank you to everybody that's here today
11:50 to make this possible for me.
11:54 I know that it took a lot of time.
11:56 I know that it took a lot of commitment.
11:58 And I wanna thank you all for acknowledging me.
12:01 I wanna thank you for coming here physically to do this
12:04 and to support me and congratulate me and share with me
12:08 a once in a lifetime moment.
12:11 This will never, ever, ever, ever happen again.
12:14 Thanking you for making it happen for me.
12:17 The Chamber of Commerce, thank you.
12:19 There's so many people that had something to do
12:21 with making this happen that I don't know who you are,
12:24 but I thank you.
12:25 (man shouts)
12:28 I said cat, did I say cat?
12:34 I better say cat.
12:37 I have so many friends here.
12:42 And I just want to say, although it's redundant,
12:46 I don't have a lot of words,
12:47 but you'll see by my life that I live
12:50 that I really do appreciate your lives that you have.
12:53 You've given me a piece of your life.
12:56 And it's very, very important, not only for here,
12:59 but we please God when we do this.
13:00 And he promises that, that we will have life eternal.
13:04 We will have it good.
13:06 We will have it with our friends that we shared here
13:08 because we did good things with each other
13:10 and for each other.
13:12 And I want you to know that I'm humble.
13:14 Okay, now I'm gonna cry.
13:17 (audience cheers)
13:21 (audience applauds)
13:24 I want you to know that I'm honored,
13:34 that I'm absolutely astonished.
13:36 I never, ever, ever thought of anything like this.
13:40 I never even thought about it.
13:42 I'm really kind of dumbfounded.
13:45 And I want you to know from the very bottom of my heart,
13:48 I thank you.
13:50 I thank you.
13:51 I thank you!
13:53 (audience cheers)
14:02 - Melba Moore, ladies and gentlemen.
14:06 And now I think it's time to unveil the star.
14:11 (audience cheers)
14:14 (whooshing)