Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore

Musical Artist

1913 – 2004

59

Who was Arnold "Gatemouth" Moore?

Arnold Dwight Moore, better known as Gatemouth Moore and later Reverend Gatemouth Moore, was an American blues and gospel singer, songwriter and pastor. A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, he claimed to have earned his nickname as a result of his loud speaking and singing voice.

During his career as a recording artist, Moore worked with various jazz musicians, including Bennie Moten, Tommy Douglas and Walter Barnes, and had songs recorded by B.B. King and Rufus Thomas.

His first billing in Chicago was as Gatemouth Moore at the Rhumboogie in early 1945 and later several times at the Club DeLisa, where suddenly, in the middle of singing his hit "I Ain't Mad at You Pretty Baby", he switched into a gospel song.

In 1949, Moore was ordained as a minister First Church of Deliverance in Chicago and went on to preach and perform, as Reverend Gatemouth Moore, as a gospel singer and DJ at several radio stations in Memphis, Birmingham and Chicago.

Moore holds distinctions as a survivor of the 1940 Natchez Rhythm Club Fire and as the first blues singer to perform at Carnegie Hall. A brass note on Beale Street Walk of Fame was dedicated to Moore in 1996.

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Born
Nov 8, 1913
Topeka
Also known as
  • Bishop "Gatemouth" Moore
  • Rev. Gatemouth Moore
  • Gatemouth Moore
  • Moore, Arnold "Gatemouth"
  • Arnold Moore
Nationality
  • United States of America
Profession
Lived in
  • Memphis
Died
May 18, 2004

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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