Thee Melba Moore: The Newark Legend - Life, Faith and Fame

The Newark Legend: Melba Moore Reflects on Life, Faith & Fame | Right Now with Rhenotha

Tony Award winner. Broadway pioneer. Recording artist. Newark icon.

In this unforgettable conversation, legendary entertainer Melba Moore joins Rhenotha Whitaker to reflect on her remarkable journey from Newark, New Jersey, to the heights of Broadway, television, and music.

Melba shares stories about attending Arts High School, becoming the first Black actress to replace a white actress in a leading Broadway role, winning a Tony Award for Purlie, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and having a street named in her honor in Newark.

But beyond the accolades, Melba opens up about the challenges she faced along the way, including homelessness, career setbacks, motherhood, faith, perseverance, and the people who helped her keep going when life seemed impossible.

You'll also hear:
• The surprising reason she still gets nervous before performances
• What she learned from teaching before becoming a star
• How faith carried her through her darkest moments
• Her advice for aspiring performers and creators
• The story behind her new book, "This Is It"

This is a heartfelt, inspiring conversation about resilience, purpose, humility, and what it truly means to leave a legacy.

📚 Melba Moore's book: This Is It
🎭 Host: Rhenotha Whitaker
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Hosted by Rhenotha Whitaker

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Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

You are a sophomore girl just like me. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I got the uh street named after me there, right across from Art Tai. Yes, you do. But I was invited back just two weeks ago to be.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Good evening, everybody, and thank you for tuning in to right now with Radasa. I'm so excited, okay? I hope you are. I know you are because I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I'm here with the legend herself, living legend herself, Vid Miss Nel Moore. She has three seats. I'ma give it to you, okay?

SPEAKER_02 0:35

1970, Tony Award winning. And that's what she graduated from college the same year, okay? From Newark, she just got her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, got her street named after her in the city of Newark near her albumada art high school. She represents Newark Down, and we love it.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

You all are welcome. B and come from Legendary Actress Singer Down the Bel Black Bull deserved. Well deserved. It is my honor and pleasure to have you on my show. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. From my new with my new girl. Thank you so much. So, you know, let's just get right into it. Newark. You were in New York. You did high school in Newark. You went to Monster State. Now I'm just trying to be real nosy. What the fuck did you live on in New York?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

First place I live was Rose Street.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Rose? Rose. Oh, you were in the Southwood. I'm in the Southwood. You in Clinton Hill. Oh, you know that that area? Yes, I do.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Do you know where Woodlawn Cemetery is?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Yes, exactly. That is Clinton Hill.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

From there.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Okay. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

This is my Central Park after I moved. I understand. I understand. I also live in Custer Avenue.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

That is the Weak Wake section. That's the right street.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

I live right up the hill from Weak Wake Park.

SPEAKER_02 2:25

Yes, you did. And I'll live around the corner from where you used to live.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

And I also taught at Petron Avenue School.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

You did!

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Shut the front door.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

What did you do? So you're the software girl just like me. I'm so excited. Thank you, Miss Melba.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Oh, um, this would be important to you. Yeah. Yes, I got the uh street named after me there right across from front. Yes, but I was invited back just two weeks ago. I know. Oh, you know? Okay, well, you're not.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

How was that? Come on, you okay. This is time to on, okay. I love it, I love it. How was the Present for a Day experience?

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Well, it was a little bit intimidating because it's been so many years. First of all, I mean, every of course, everything has changed.

SPEAKER_04 3:16

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

And what I wanted to do was be attentive to how important details like the the the way people express themselves.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

What's going on, what's important to them, you know. And uh so so that you can now I've been away from that environment all these years. So how do you just get plunked in and think you're just gonna fit in? So I was intimidating because one of the things you want to do, as a teacher, you learn to listen and to pay attention because it's your job to impart something to them and receive something of their person from. So I was like kind of like this. It was a little bit like going on stage.

SPEAKER_03 3:55

Wow, I'm surprised. I'm surprised that that's the take you took. You know what, you know what it I think it is? I think it's your compassionate for one to understand and and make sure you don't um you know, you know, time children not children, but young people. Young people.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Because I'm a senior citizen now, right? That you don't just shut them off. But they're your children.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

So I think I I I can put it into words now because you you asked me the question. Sure. And I thought, what were you so scared about? Because I thought, you know, it was gonna be just kind of like a nice little walkthrough and whatever whatever. And part of it was.

SPEAKER_04 4:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:34

But um during the changing of um classes, uh-huh, uh over the loud speaker they played my hit records. I thought, oh wow, this is really weird. Walking down the halls here and you stepped into my life or something like that. And then you think about some of the other people that went there, like Sarah Vaughn and some um uh Tisha Campbell and Wayne Shorter and just tons and tons of people who are these incredible artists. And now all of a sudden, personally, you realize you're part of that. Yeah. It's it's a different thing for people to sit at a different cent at a distance. And I know what it is to to uh have respect and in an art for a star, but it's different to to have someone do that to you. Yeah. You were in shock. Oh my god, now what do I do? Right. Wow to me it's a kind of thing, maybe maybe I think I want to be compassionate and that kind of spirit takes over, so n I never really get r used to it.

SPEAKER_03 5:34

Wow. That is that's a testament to to your humility, you know? Um, that you never got the big head and you know, that you still are, you know, you know, just people and just a person. And it's like, you know, you still see even when, you know, you are a legend, you're like you still you okay, you still revering me. Oh, you know, I love that about you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

It's not like that I don't you know, that the word is true and everything, but then I realized I don't really know what they mean by that.

SPEAKER_03 6:06

I mean, at the end of the day, like, because you've been such a pioneer, you know, and even them knowing that is is incredible, especially because these days, these young people you know, you never know what to expect. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

Don't know what to expect. And uh there's so much going on, and there's so much to engage us that all of our attention span is is in jeopardy.

SPEAKER_03 6:32

Right. Say that. So when you look back on your journey from Newark to Broadway, you know, and beyond, what are you what are you most proud of? Then I made it out of life.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Amen. It was such uh uh an uncharted road for me, uh, and uh kind of bumpy and not n not necessarily smooth. My parents were entertainers, and so they wanted me to get a real job. They did not encourage me to be an entertainer.

unknown 7:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

And after I taught school for a while, I asked them, I said, Well, uh, this is your dream. I love it, and I do it very well, but I want to be a performer too, like you're right. Hello. We hadn't had that coming together, and then um my stepfather especially really worked hard to try to uh through his uh acquaintances uh get me into the industry. He so we took a lot of meetings, did a lot of things. Uh I was probably gonna be the next, well, she hope she wasn't here yet, but you'll know who she is.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Roberta Flack and played the piano and sing at the same time, and uh but uh uh but you uh you are you are the next Melba Moore, honey. You are the Melbourne.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Well that's how it turned out to be. We can safely say that now. But then uh um we met a lot of people, but one of the most important people in terms of getting me from teaching into the industry was Valerie Simpson. We exchanged uh information and she invited me to come do some backup singing on recording sessions. Wow. So I love that. I could have done that the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

But okay, yeah. One of the sessions was for Galt McDermott, and he was the music director, the composer um for the rubber musical Hair.

SPEAKER_03 8:22

Yes, you were in hair, and you were the the first black female actress to replace a white actress on Broadway. Go.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

I replaced Diane Keaton, you forgot that part.

SPEAKER_03 8:41

Forgive me, I'm yes, I forgot. You replaced Diane Keaton, okay? Diane Keaton, the first. You may go ahead with your dance up. Tell me all about it.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

I was in the show for a year and a half, one of my fellow um hair rights reminded me that the show wasn't gonna last forever, and even it did, I might I should find something else to do. And um, she suggested that I start going around and auditioning. I said, but I don't know nobody in in theater but you.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:24

And I got the part.

SPEAKER_03 9:26

Yes, he did. Ludybell. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Excuse me, and a Tony Award.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Tony Award, darling. The same year you graduated from college, darling, 1970. Montclair State.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Well, but what happened was I couldn't I couldn't graduate on time. I should have graduated before. Hmm. Okay. But uh I couldn't they had they had this one math course that I couldn't pass. Oh wow. Okay. So I was out teaching, substitute teaching. So I really wasn't I didn't have my degree yet, but I was I was teaching already. And so after I got the Tony Award, Montclair gave me Your Degree.

SPEAKER_03 10:05

Oh wow Wow. How how was Montclair back then? Um was it diverse?

SPEAKER_00 10:13

It was it was it was very diverse. It was much much smaller. The music department was a one little um look like a little army army backs.

SPEAKER_03 10:25

But that didn't stop you. That didn't stop you.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Wow, it was a great music department though. Uh we had great teachers, uh great courses. Yeah. It was a great, great, great, great, great school. Now it's a fabulous university. It's just bigger.

SPEAKER_03 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

But it was beautiful, but just just more intimate.

SPEAKER_03 10:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

You also have a math course, so so I you you have to go out and practice teaching before you know get your degree. So so when I say I taught I was a substitute teacher.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Yeah. I was teacher. You were for two seconds I was a substitute teacher. You know, when you graduate from college, it's not about me. When you graduate from college, the first thing they tell you is you better get your substitute certificate, you know, because that's your backup plan. But the Lord Yeah, the Lord the Lord had other plans. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

Well, that's what my parents parents wanted me to do is have a backup plan. Yeah. But what what teaching did was really teach me how to care and pay attention to your audience and um read them and uh understand what they're saying to you when they're not talking. So I I carry that with me because going on the stage w without any acting experience, the fear will just take over.

SPEAKER_03 11:43

Wow. Do you still get stage frying? Do you still get stage fright?

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Really? So I prepare. I I I really, really, really, really prepare. So that kicks in and takes over, even though I kind of consciously don't sometimes know all of what's going on. Because the fear you can't focus. Right. Got it. Okay. But one thing teaching shows you, you you prepare. You prepare, you rehearse, you did your research, you do everything you have to do, so that it's just a habit. You kind of see through that.

SPEAKER_04 12:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

You might see clue because my partner, Ron Richardson, who does a lot of my booking now. He said, Didn't you hear them hollering and screaming for you? I said, No, I guess I was paying attention. Yeah, yeah, no, I missed it.

SPEAKER_03 12:28

I missed it. Because I was focused. Oh, yeah. So that's how you overcome your stage frag? You just stay focused, you stay in the moment.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Don't overcome it. To me, to overcome it means that it wouldn't come anymore, but it still comes.

SPEAKER_03 12:43

There you go. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

But I guess you're right because you overcome it because it doesn't overtake you.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

You still do what you have to do.

SPEAKER_03 12:50

Do what you have to do. And you've been doing it. You've been doing it. Yes, ma'am. Listen, out here in these streets. Oh my goodness. So, Miss Melbourne, you have a book out. This is it.

unknown 13:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Brand new book. Yes, ma'am. Yes, this is it. Your life. And this is back cover. Yes, ma'am. Listen, well deserved. And you should and you should have a book out. Tell me, give me um a few highlights about it. Give me like what you want readers to come away with.

SPEAKER_00 13:38

Well, you can overcome. You have some difficulties and you don't know the way. But as cruel as this as this uh world is, there are really, really, really good people. And you don't even do the anything bad by yourself. Somebody will help you. And I have a few examples of that. And um some some really down times, like when I was homeless. I didn't know I had one daughter and I didn't know where she was. I've been blackballed in the industry. Um, I really didn't know what I was gonna do. But uh this gentleman by by the name of Michael Matthews had called me to be out on this tour. As it turned out, it was a gospel tour. And as as it also turned out, I was born again, but I wasn't around a lot of people, so I didn't really know what what had happened to me.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

But I was a different person. And that that may have been why I got kicked out of my life, too, because you know, you you might change on people saying, Well, what's wrong with her? I don't know. All I know is everything shut down, and I was just there by myself. But he brought me out on this um t two-year tour. And to make a long story short, his like Tyler Perry. There were a few people like that who were beginning the gospel theater genre to place. He was one of the first, and um so he called me and invited me to come out uh on this uh show called Mama, I'm sorry. That's another thing that happened because um I think when you're depressed, you can become self-destructive.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

But when when you whatever it was, I was abotage, you get yes. That wasn't it. Especially because I had a daughter. So you had someone else to to love. Here c I here comes I can I think again, the spirit of compassion that actually saves you. So you can not just think, we can hear what God is saying, because he'll tell you something that will I don't know, it'll save you. I don't know how exactly one step to the other and and because this whole cloud just comes over you. You can't I mean, I'm a star and now I'm homeless, just like that. Like so uh how do you uh translate or yeah, interpret that?

SPEAKER_03 15:52

How do you how do you figure what the heck is it's abrupt. It's abrupt and and you have to you know come to the realization, you know? Yeah um but eventually you find what your source comes from.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

You know you can't do that quickly, so you have to move from moment to moment. Get your little suitcase and get your step and that's great.

SPEAKER_04 16:12

That's great.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

When I stepped into um it wasn't only a a a gospel theater project, but everybody in it was saved.

SPEAKER_04 16:19

Hey man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

And they'd been through something. And uh gospel people I found out are hilarious. It was a comedy.

SPEAKER_03 16:28

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Just cause just because we saved don't mean we don't know how to have fun. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:33

Oh no, I think we created fun. Hello. That and it was a black, you know, Christian show, so we're hilarious. Right. So there's there's the the the healing factor of of laughter because you you laugh so hard, you know, you fall down on the floor, you know.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

Gut busting.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Yes, and for me, uh the uh the devastation was so much I couldn't really uh complain about it or talk about it, or so a lot of times I guess I would sit there just kind of numb.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

On the tour bus or wherever we were we we were, but always one of the saints would just come maybe sit by me. So then I understood, I began to understand the power of just being with someone, being being there, being present. Yeah. Maybe maybe that's what God is. He's present. So certain things can't touch you because there's a pr there's a presence there. I mean, these things are not always uh uh able uh articulate uh what what do you call it? Uh put it into words. Not always able to put it into words, but they're very, very, very, very, very real. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:44

And uh we don't you know it's faith. We can't see it, but we know.

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Yeah, that's it's faith.

SPEAKER_03 17:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

That's and I guess it didn't happen to me in the way that you learn the lingo so much, because everybody knows it's faith. But when you say it a lot and you say, Well, my faith brought me to, but I can't express it that way because it um I'm trying to make you s see how I felt and what was going on. Um I'm trying to make you see that, so I can't just say faith 'cause I think it it could be so many different things, and you wouldn't know what happened to me. Right. So, but anyway, they we started to heal me, and eventually I found out where my daughter was, brought her out there on the road with me, and she was surrounded by them, and they looked at her and they did you know, of course, embrace her, but they did the same thing with her. You know how maybe it's how you do it, how I did it in the classroom. You look at the people and you see what they need, and you're kind of kind of there for them. She heard them sing, she was in tears.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Of course. That's what you're doing. That's the power of gospel music, you know? It is the good news. You know, the good news to bring you through. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

And I remember she said, Ma, they're so sweet and kind and nice. I said, Honey, that's what saints do.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 19:05

Hey, how do you discover what a saint is? So that's one of the examples.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yeah. Wonderful. This game is called This or That with Melba. Okay. This is that. This or that with Melbourne. Oh, this or that. Yes, ma'am, okay? So it's gonna be rapid fire, okay? You ready? All right, Miss Melba. This or that. Do you prefer Broadway or the recording studio? This or that?

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Recording studio.

SPEAKER_03 19:33

Okay, all right. I love it. I love it. Okay, here we go. Newark or Hollywood?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Newark.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Yes! Come on, I know the movie because you can live. Yes, indeed. Wonderful. Okay. Singing or acting, this or that. Singing. Of course, yes, ma'am. Okay. How heels or sneakers. This or that. Sneakers, baby.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

I mean, Jennifer, get it out your mouth, right? Listen, real quick. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 20:09

Real quick. Okay, what's the all that stuff for? Okay. Let me just get these in every color. Let me get these sneakers in every color. Okay. Um, last one. Fame or peace? This or that?

SPEAKER_01 20:25

Peace. Very nice. Very nice. I love it. I love it. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

You made it so easy.

SPEAKER_01 20:32

Oh, that was an easy. Well, I'm glad I made it easy for you.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

What's next for Miss Belvamour?

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Well, I'm getting ready for this big performance at 54 below. Oh. I'm doing a lot of um my classic songs. Uh like medley from the Broadway Musical Hair.

SPEAKER_04 20:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Uh song from uh Le Miss Rob.

SPEAKER_03 20:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:55

Oh, I forgot to mention that, of course. I was a flat. Oh, you know, I know. You know, I know you were in La's not. Right? Because most black people can't say they say La Mise Le Rob, they can't say it.

unknown 21:05

Oh gosh.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

That's okay. It's about the bla it's about the French Revolution. But um, I dreamed a dream from uh Les Miserables. I do that because I played the role of Fonteen. Uh do some music from Pearlie. I'm gonna do I Got Love. And gonna do some uh music uh f from back in that day, what we call the uh American songbook, like Blue Skies and Cole Porter. Then I'm gonna do a tribute to Miss Lena Horn.

SPEAKER_04 21:34

Yes, wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Her signature song, Stormy Weather.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

Yeah, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

That's the spirit of it, too. Because she was so sculpturing so I'm gonna do a tribute to Miss Ella Fitzgerald. And I'm gonna do a song that she called, uh she didn't call it, but was called Air Mail Special.

unknown 21:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

It is totally, totally, totally, totally scatter. Like the first part of it goes but it it it and so on.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

That's the first thing I think of with jazz. I get so I get so tongue tied. I I'm just in awe I'm just in awe of those that can. You know, it's just uh it's just you know, and then of course, you know, we invented it.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Yeah Hello Well, I'm sure we invented jazz.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Oh yeah. Everything comes from us.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

We invented gospel.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yes. Everything hip hop all of that. And speaking speaking of all of those genres, I also want to ask you. Excuse me, gospel. Gospel, yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. From your time in music industry from when you first got started. And now, you know, nowadays, like you said, you talked, um, who was your connection?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

Oh, Valerie Simpson.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Valerie Simpson, yes, yes. Um, so you said that, you know, you had a connection to Valerie Simpson, and back then, you know, for me, I don't know, it looked like that connection was easy for you. These days, baby, you can't get nobody on nowhere.

SPEAKER_00 23:10

You know, it was an accident.

SPEAKER_04 23:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

That's my point. Because I didn't know anybody. We just happened to be in the same. She was taking a meeting with somebody. Okay. We were both in the outer office and we started chatting. Okay. Okay. Well, it w when I say an accident, you know what I'm saying, it's gone.

SPEAKER_02 23:30

Say it again, Miss Nelvin. Say it again.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Ain't nobody but Jesus. Yes, yes, ma'am. That's what I'm saying. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 23:44

Because there was I didn't study acting, I didn't know what the Tony Award was when I got it. Matter of fact, I was so scared, and I was trying to learn how to act, I didn't create a a speech because I was scared to think about it. I was, I needed to put it. Then I really got scared out of my woods because when when I got we we performed, uh Pearlie performed on the Tony Awards. And what was scary about that is that usually the theater's dark. But the theater was bright because it was TV. Right, right. So I looked up there and I said, oh my God, there's Pearl Bailey. There's Richard Harrison. I I could see the stars out there. And I said, I mean, I would if if I had enough sense not to put my hands in front of my face, but I was like this. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Holding the Tony Award. I couldn't think of nothing to say.

SPEAKER_03 24:39

Wow, wow, I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

That's how it's been for me. Yeah. Really, really, really scary. And you say, do you get over the the uh the nerves and stuff? So many scared, I guess you get used to getting scared. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 24:55

But that's a good thing because that shows that, again, that shows your humility, and that shows that you ain't, you know, you're not too big, you know, to to um it also shows you don't know what's going to happen.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

That's right. That's right. You don't know how it's gonna happen. You can be studied and prepared and everything, you should do that. But I think the lesson is you don't know what's happening. So whatever you do to prepare, try to keep an open mind. Now that I can look back and say, uh what have see what happened to me, at least to a degree or partially, yeah. I can advise other people, I don't care what you do, you're not gonna know what's gonna happen. So try to keep an open line.

SPEAKER_03 25:35

Yeah. So who are some of your favorite new artists?

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Who are some of your favorite new artists as well? I I I don't have time to to sit down and focus and see who everybody is. Yeah. But we got people you probably will never ever hear of that are beasts. The talent is profuse, diverse, uh all over the place. Yeah.

unknown 26:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:03

Which lets me know that we laid a good groundwork.

SPEAKER_04 26:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

For instance, I I did a um, I guess it's a documentary, it's going to be a new one called M My Personal Lesson, my personal class where I was coaching uh young people who were getting ready to perform something. They have five different scenes, all very, very different. I don't know who they are. They're not famous yet.

SPEAKER_04 26:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

And each one of them had this incredible range. And um what I learned about myself was I could tell something about them without knowing them that I could tell then.

SPEAKER_03 26:38

Oh, that's part of creative discernment. That's part of theater discernment.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

Oh, yes, yes. I got that now. Yes, they are. And so the director, producer of the of the the uh show told me, he gave me a list of questions to ask, and uh um said, you know, you you can give them a group lesson and everything. When I walked in, but I haven't taught school in 40 years. I don't know how to do that. And the the people I taught were like in fifth grade. Uh-huh. So I said, this is what I can tell you that might help you personally. So I did that yesterday, so that's a whole new way of showing who it is I am and sharing with young people.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Rather than who's my favorite m most popular singer.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

I love it. Set me straight, Mr. Elba. Say be straight.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

Everybody would ask that that question, then I would be trying to answer it, but I don't live my life like that, so I couldn't answer it.

SPEAKER_03 27:33

I understood. I told you.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

I'm sure it would be of value to to you. Thank you. At least I hope it would.

SPEAKER_03 27:41

Thank you. No, no, because there are lots of telling you.

SPEAKER_00 27:45

We can tell you one thing.

SPEAKER_03 27:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:49

The singers. I said it before, I don't know how else to say. They're beasts.

SPEAKER_04 27:55

Yes. I know.

SPEAKER_00 27:57

I know. Some of them study, and some of them just naturally that way like they always were.

SPEAKER_03 28:03

Yeah. You know, we have it honest. You know, it's in us. We, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

But it's it's it's out there for us to study now too. You know, and hone your craft. And I gave them a couple of um hints that I said, well, you can do scales all day long, but do this here, and it'll come right now. Right. And they tested me on camera, and they did what I told them to do.

SPEAKER_03 28:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

And whatever had a frog in it was clear as a bell. I said, Okay. Excuse me. So I I look forward to doing master classes now.

SPEAKER_03 28:36

Oh, I love it. Because I guess. Because you are a master and a living legend, you should. Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

You can you can teach from your experience now. And I think I can teach especially um, not teach but inspire people who haven't had any any lessons. Y'all go out there too, man. I don't just you know, I won't just tell them, go out there, not tell them anything to do.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Because it happened to me too, and I can give you some pointers now. Like if you hadn't had any experience or any education in that.

SPEAKER_03 29:03

Yeah. Well, what would you tell someone who's had some TV experience, some singing experience, and who is still trying to make their mark in the industry today on perseverance and making connections. What would you tell someone, I don't know, someone like me.

SPEAKER_00 29:28

What would you tell? Um try to interview and have podcasts with icons like me who can give you hints and keep doing it. You're already on the way. Oh, thank you, Ms. You need uh um somebody to encourage you and to get confidence and to know that you're on the right way and to keep trying, keep doing it.

SPEAKER_03 29:46

Thank you, Mr.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

Um Always try to um seek out people that have uh a record of excellence. So that's that's what your bar is now. You know, you might not even do this. I mean, these days we have choices, you know. Yes, darling.

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Absolutely. Say that. Right. You don't have to be a one, you know, a one-strict pony because there's so many options out there, and so many especially especially if you have talent.

SPEAKER_00 30:15

Well, if you might have talent that needs developing.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Most of the things I can do now, I wasn't able to do when I began. You wouldn't know that it was talent at that stage. Yeah. Somebody would say, Why don't you go back and teach? But I kept at it.

SPEAKER_03 30:30

Well, thank you, Miss Melbourne. I truly appreciate you hanging out with right now with Renata. Thank you so much. Um, please, y'all, y'all go on and get her book. This is it, okay? Um, if you're in the New York area, she's always here. She's always here encouraging us and, you know, just letting us know that, you know, legends do come from New York. Okay. So thank you for tuning in to right now with Minata. We'll see you next week. Bye.