Early bands A self-taught musician, Moore grew up in Philadelphia, where he went to art school and played his early songs at local coffee houses. His rock career began with DC & the Senators opening arena rock concerts in Philadelphia. He played drums with Woody's Truck Stop, the first band to feature
Todd Rundgren. He and a friend started the Muffins, the first group to record and perform Tim Moore pop songs. The Muffins had minor success on
RCA Records with the single "Subway Traveler". During its year of existence, the band did one week residencies at the Trauma, a psychedelic club in Philadelphia, with acts like
the Velvet Underground. After the Muffins disbanded,
Frank Zappa heard Moore play solo and considered his songs harmonically advanced for the time. Zappa brought Moore to New York with the intention of signing him to his label,
Bizarre Records. Moore declined the offer when Zappa couldn't schedule time to produce the album himself. Moore returned to Philadelphia and worked as a staff writer and
studio musician on sessions with
Thom Bell,
Gamble and Huff, and other producers of
Philadelphia soul. He lived next door to singer
Daryl Hall in downtown Philadelphia, where they worked together as staff writers for a production company. Moore and Hall co-founded a new band, Gulliver, who released one album for
Elektra Records.
Solo career After the breakup of Gulliver, Moore sought a more personal approach to his music. He moved to
Woodstock, New York, the residence of
Bob Dylan,
The Band, and
Van Morrison. He signed with
Dunhill Records, which issued his first single, "
A Fool Like You", on which
Donald Fagen of
Steely Dan sang backup. In return, Moore sang backup on the first Steely Dan single, "
Dallas". Moore's self titled debut solo album was first released in May 1974 by a label called A Small Record Company. It was distributed by Paramount and its parent company
Famous Music Corp. It was produced by
Nick Jameson, who recognized Moore's multi-instrumental talents and encouraged him to assemble his own tracks. Moore layered guitar, keyboard, and bass parts over drum tracks by
Bernard Purdie, and
Russ Kunkel. The debut single "
Second Avenue" charted in the US, Canada, and UK. But as it was headed up the US charts Famous Music closed its record operations. When record label chiefs
Clive Davis and
David Geffen heard that Moore was a free agent, a bidding war ensued. Moore chose to sign with Geffen's
Asylum Records. Meanwhile
Art Garfunkel released a recording of
Second Avenue. Garfunkel's version peaked at No. 34 on the
Billboard magazine
Hot 100 chart, number six Adult Contemporary, and No. 39 in Canada, while Moore's original peaked at No. 58 after re-release. Moore's version made a brief re-appearance of the Canadian charts in early 1978, reaching number 92. During 1975, Moore released the album
Behind the Eyes. This featured what remains his best-known song, "
Rock and Roll Love Letter". The song was a hit when re-recorded by the
Bay City Rollers a year later. Moore's guitar playing on this song caught the attention of
Keith Richards, guitarist for
the Rolling Stones. They became friends and Moore spent two weeks in rehearsals with the Rolling Stones and
Peter Tosh at
Bearsville Studios in Woodstock. Moore's third album,
White Shadows, was recorded in Los Angeles with more polished production and a group of seasoned musicians, including
Michael McDonald of
the Doobie Brothers,
Jeff Porcaro of
Toto,
Timothy B. Schmit of the
Eagles, and
Bill Payne of
Little Feat. The album was followed by High Contrast, produced by
Ken Scott, who had worked with
The Beatles,
David Bowie,
Devo and
Supertramp. Singers continued to mine his new releases for songs but Moore's records received limited attention in the United States. In 1986, Moore released his fifth album,
Flash Forward. He spent 75 days touring Brazil after "Yes," a ballad from that album, went to No.1 and stayed there for ten weeks. In 1988 he replaced Jim Gilmour in Saga for the Wildest Dreams tour.
Recent activity As of 2019, Moore continues to write songs and plans new recording projects and live dates through 2020. In 2016, he was the music director for an all-star tribute to
Lou Reed for the 50th anniversary of
Max's Kansas City. ==Other versions of Tim Moore songs==