Daniel Moore

Fame as a vocalist may not attach to Daniel Moore in every quarter, yet his songwriting achievements command broad familiarity. Gold status attached to Three Dog Night’s early-’70s recording of “Shambala” and to “My Maria,” the latter first cut by B.W. Stevenson, Moore’s co-writer on the piece. Brooks & Dunn later placed the same song on their Borderline album and enjoyed hit-single success with its release. Bonnie Raitt’s 1976 Warner Bros. album Sweet Forgiveness, itself certified gold, took its title from a Moore composition. Further artists who have cut his material comprise Kenny Rogers, the Everly Brothers, Joe Cocker, Waylon Jennings, Bobby Blue Bland, Dizzy Gillespie, David Clayton Thomas, Canned Heat, Thelma Houston, the Dillards, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jennifer Warnes, the Band, Kim Carnes, Maria Muldaur, and Danny Flowers. His “Fire in the Hole” appeared in the 1997 Steven Seagal film Fire Down Below, the same year he established his own imprint, DJM Records.

Moore entered the world in Washington state in 1941 and spent his childhood in Athena, OR, one of seven sons born to a preacher father. After high school he headed to Eugene and completed three years of college there. In 1962 he moved to Los Angeles, securing a recording contract with Everest before a fortnight had elapsed. The following year he appeared with Jimmy Rogers, supplying backing vocals and acoustic bass, while the Fairmount Singers shared bills with Rogers as his opening act. The Everly Brothers released Moore’s “Deliver Me” in 1967. At the start of the next decade he joined Joe Cocker on the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, continuing to write, beginning to produce, and issuing his own album on ABC Records. In 1973 “Shambala” earned gold certification for both Moore and Three Dog Night, while Stevenson brought out “My Maria.” By the early ’80s Moore performed with the Moore Brothers Band and the Renegade Band and supplied background vocals on a Kim Carnes tour; two years earlier he had produced one of her albums.