Melba is the eighth album by singer Melba Moore, released in 1978.
Overview
Between 1975 and 1977, Moore had recorded four albums for Buddah Records, the last three of which had been disco-oriented with the title cut of her 1976 album This Is It providing Moore with her first glimmer of recording success. Moore's fourth album for Buddah, the 1977 release A Portrait of Melba, helmed by the virtuoso Philly soul production/songwriting team of McFadden & Whitehead - ie. Gene McFadden and John Whitehead - had been a commercial failure which ended Moore's tenure with Buddah. However Moore was expediently signed to Epic Records who assigned McFadden & Whitehead to again oversee Moore's recording sessions, with Moore's Epic debut album: Melba, recorded at Sigma Sound Studios and released in September 1978. The album's lead single: "You Stepped Into My Life", ranked as high as #5 on the Billboard ranking of top disco songs which success translated into Moore's strongest showing on Billboard's Hot 100 and R&B charts with respective peaks of #47 and #17: Moore would have number of higher ranked R&B chartsingles during the 1980s but "You Stepped Into My Life" would remain her final Hot 100 chart single. The Melba album itself would be afforded a Billboard 200 peak of #114: its second single: the McFadden & Whitehead original "Pick Me Up I'll Dance" was a moderate club hit. Despite the comparative success of the Melba album, Moore's followup album: Burn, helmed by Pete Bellotte, showed a radical and commercially unsuccessful shift toward harder-edged dance music. Moore's musical focus subsequently shifted back to a softer sound, and throughout the 1980's Moore scored a handful of R&B hits without becoming a major star. McFadden & Whitehead would contribute as songwriters and/or producers to Moore's albums: Closer and What a Woman Needs, and to the singer's 1988 album I'm in Love: also Gene McFadden would produce and co-write Moore's two #1 R&B hits: "Falling" and "A Little Bit More" both from Moore's 1986 album A Lot of Love.
