[5][6] Moore grew up in the Harlem section of New York until age nine, when her mother remarried, to jazz pianist Clement Leroy Moorman and the family relocated to Newark, New Jersey.

In 1967, she began her performing career as Dionne in the original cast of the musical Hair, along with Ronnie Dyson, Paul Jabara, and Diane Keaton.

In 1970, Moore won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Lutiebelle in Purlie, a role she would later reprise in the 1981 television adaptation for Showtime.

Her career picked up after she met record manager and business promoter Charles Huggins after a performance at the Apollo Theater in 1974.

In 1975, Moore signed with Buddah Records and released the critically successful R&B album Peach Melba, which included the minor hit "I Am His Lady".

[citation needed] It was 18 years later when Australian singer Dannii Minogue covered this song and made it to number 10 on the ARIA chart.

Her success began to wane as the decade closed, although she managed two further Top 10 R&B hits, "Do You Really (Want My Love)" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing".

In 2003, Moore was featured in the film The Fighting Temptations, which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles.

In 2009, independent label Breaking Records released the EP Book of Dreams, in which Moore was featured.

[19] In 1999, Huggins filed suit against Moore, claiming that she had publicly defamed him by stating that he abused her economically.

[24] On August 10, 2023, Moore received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame within the Live Theatre/Live Performance category.