Dorothy Moore sets Diamond & Gold concert marking 80 years

Soul singer Dorothy Moore will celebrate two milestones at once this fall: her 80th birthday and the 50th anniversary of her signature hit, "Misty Blue."

Moore will headline the Dorothy Moore: Diamond & Gold Concert on October 22 at the Robinson Center Performance Hall in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a show presented by JBM Entertainment Productions.

Born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1946, Moore started singing in church and was still a student at Jackson State University when she joined the vocal trio the Poppies, who scored a modest national hit with "Lullaby of Love" in 1966. She went on to work as a solo artist and background singer around Jackson before becoming part of the musical family around Malaco Records.

Everything changed with "Misty Blue." Written by Bob Montgomery and previously recorded as a country song, the track suited Moore's husky, emotionally direct delivery. Her 1976 version rose to No. 2 on Billboard's R&B chart and No. 3 on the Hot 100, becoming an international hit and earning her a Grammy nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Moore followed it with a soulful cover of Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away," a Top 10 R&B hit, and "I Believe You," which reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and brought a second Grammy nomination. She kept recording R&B, blues and gospel over the following decades, returning to Malaco for several albums and eventually starting her own label, Farish Street Records, in 2002.

The Little Rock celebration will also feature Arkansas saxophonist Michael Eubanks and his band M'Eubie, along with special guest vocalist Nia Renee, a former American Idol finalist.