A scholarship granted at the 1974 Gospel Music Workshop of America opened the door to professional gospel work for Rev. James Moore, securing him a Savoy recording deal that same year and launching his series of album releases. Detroit-born, he first stepped forward in church at seven and, through a friend’s introduction, met gospel matriarch Mattie Moss Clark. Guided by Clark and shaped by the powerful examples of Revs. James Cleveland and Richard White, he made his recorded debut with 1974’s I Thank You Master; that year Rev. Gerald Thompson also featured him on the LP I Can’t Stop Now.
Throughout the 1980s Moore appeared only sporadically across several labels, yet he rejoined Malaco/Savoy in 1988 for the release Live: Rev. James Moore. The project reached the gospel Top Ten and brought him a Stellar Award for Best Male Solo Performance. He contributed to the Mississippi Mass Choir’s 1987 debut, which dominated the gospel charts for more than six months and collected nearly a dozen GMWA and Dove honors; in return the choir joined him on 1991’s Live with the Mississippi Mass Choir. That set also claimed the number-one gospel position, spurring further live recordings captured in his hometown of Detroit and at Jackson State University in the mid-1990s. With the 1994 album I Will Trust in the Lord, Rev. Moore received his initial Grammy nomination.
