Born on February 17, 1967 in California to a gospel minister, she grew up singing in the church and was heavily influenced by the music of George Duke and Lee Ritenour. While in high school, she decided to make a career of singing due to perfoming in the musical "The Wiz".

She was a successful beauty pageant contestant and model when, at age twenty-two, she was discovered by the MCA Records executive Louil Silas. Moore was signed to Silas' MCA-distributed imprint Silas Records.