Chante Moore at City Winery

During a decades-spanning career beginning during the tail end of the New Jack Swing era, sophisticated vocalist Chanté Moore placed over a dozen songs on Billboard’s R&B chart. The daughter of a minister, Moore grew up on gospel music and albums by George Duke and Lee Ritenour, and sometimes applied her lyrics to their music. Moore decided as a teenager, she wanted to become a singer after an inspirational performance in a high-school rendition of “The Wiz”. At the age of 22, producer and executive Louis Silas Jr. discovered Chanté, and signed her to Silas Records, his MCA subsidiary. In 1992, El DeBarge featured Chanté on the Top 15 R&B single “You Know What I Like”. She also released “Precious”, her debut album. Propelled by the singles “Love’s Taken Over” and “It’s Alright”, the RIAA certified “Precious” gold. Three more albums for Silas/MCA, all of which either dented or flirted with the Top Ten of the R&B Albums Chart, followed through 2000.