Ozark native eyes the big stage

OZARK — The beams were high. The crowd was loud, almost as if they knew who she was.

But it was a new day for Latoya McMoore. The now solo artist had always held the lead microphone, but had never been on stage alone.

And while the applause at a free Ronnie Gilley concert she opened with the National Anthem before celebrities — including Keyshia Cole — graced the stage, the Ozark resident faced a sharp reality.

“It was nice, I mean you don’t let the crowd’s energy get to you too much because you get a big head, but it was great to have the applause. It was just kind of awkward being on the stage alone, but it’s something I’m preparing to do,” McMoore said recently.

She was a singer in Voices, a young rhythm and soul group from the 1990s that also featured her sister LaPetra and twin actresses Tia and Tamera Mowry. Their hit song was “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.”

McMoore was not even driving age when she started touring and opening for larger MoTown groups with Voices, though the quartet’s glory ended when the record label opted to go for a different music style.

But now, after a phone call from an avid Voices fan a few years ago, the star from the last century is breaking new ground in the Wiregrass and hopes to become a national voice again.

Through performances like her recent one at Gilley’s event in Dothan, and like some past stops in Troy to sing, the artist plans to get back into the spotlight.

She is currently vetting producers and evaluating different music genres before stepping full stage.

McMoore said influences like God and her mother are what encouraged her to stay focused on her dreams.

Lately, assistance from friends like Myron Williams and other contacts have helped her along the way.

She hopes to influence students she teaches in Ozark with similar motivation.

“I want them to know they can do anything they want to do — whether it be art, dancing, singing. Anything,” McMoore said. “At the same time by trusting God, I can achieve what I’m hoping to do.”