[2][3] The album included Moore's rendition of McCoy's deep soul ballad "Lean on Me", first recorded in 1970 by Vivian Reed but most well known as the B-side to Aretha Franklin's 1972 hit "Spanish Harlem".

However the recruitment of McCoy to helm Moore's album was essentially due to McCoy's success as a producer of disco records, it being hoped that a disco hit would consolidate the somewhat nebulous success Moore had to that point experienced as a recording artist: (Melba Moore quote:)"I just couldn't ignore the [impact] that disco was having on music".

[4] The album's disco-oriented title track was released in March 1976 and became a discothèque favorite: while the "This Is It" single did afford Moore her first major R&B hit, reaching #18 on the Billboard ranking of R&B singles the track failed to provide her with the desired Pop music breakout, rising no higher than #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 ("This Is It" did become a Top Ten hit on the singles chart for the United Kingdom).

"Lean on Me" was issued as followup single to afford Moore a second Top 20 R&B hit peaking at #17.

[5] The limited success of the This Is It album was evidently encouraging enough for Moore to reteam with McCoy for a second 1976 album release Melba which despite failing to generate a significant hit single fared roughly as well as its predecessor.