Gatemouth Moore Biography & Awards

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Artist Info

Born

November 08, 1913 Topeka, KS

Died

May 19, 2004 Yazoo City, MS

Biography

Blues shouter, and later gospel preacher, Gatemouth Moore got his start in Kansas City while still a teenager, singing for the bands of Bennie Moten and Walter Barnes. Graced with a smooth but powerful voice similar to Charles Brown, Moore spent the 1940's penning and recording songs, most notably "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," which would later be covered by B.B. King and the previously mentioned Charles Brown. Others would revisit Moore's songs too with Rufus Thomas covering Gatemouth's "Somebody's Got to Go" and Jimmy Witherspoon adopted "Christmas Blues". In 1949 Moore gave up secular singing for the gospel trail. He still sang and recorded, but almost exclusively gospel material and spent most of the ensuing decades working in churches and promoting gospel music through radio programs that he hosted. In 2003, Moore appeared in director Richard Pearce's film Road to Memphis singing a latter day song he wrote titled "Beale Street Ain't Beale Street No More." The following year, the singer dubbed Gatemouth because of his massive voice passed away from natural causes at the age of 90. ~ Wade Kergan, All Music Guide