This Is It | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | April 13, 1976 | |||
Recorded | 1976 | |||
Studio | Mediasound, New York City | |||
Label | Buddah | |||
Producer | Van McCoy | |||
Melba Moore chronology | ||||
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Allmusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
This Is It is the fifth album by singer Melba Moore, released in 1976.
Melba Moore would give credit to her husband/manager Charles Huggins, whom she married in September 1974, with getting her signed to Buddah Records in 1975 — ending a four-year recording studio absence — and with arranging for veteran soul music songwriter/producer Van McCoy to helm Moore's second Buddah album release, which she began recording in January 1976. [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". Moore had herself recorded "Lean on Me" in 1972, her rendition being featured on her concert album Melba Moore Live! . 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. The This Is It album would have a Billboard 200 peak of #145. [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.