32 Millennium - A Marquis Who’s Who Magazine ARTS, MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT Gail Devers Story” and “Reggie’s Prayer,” both in 1996. In 2022, she received a Living Legend Award from Jazzabration. Ms. Joyce founded A Women’s Jazz Festival at Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The festival celebrated its 30th year in 2022. Ms. Joyce earned a position as a Jazz Ambassador to six African countries, and her efforts as an ambassador led her to perform around the world. Furthermore, she headed an 18-piece band that consisted of nine men and nine women, which she cites as an exciting moment in her career. She has two CDs, titled “Live in London” and “From C to Shining C.” Ms. Joyce earned an MA in jazz history and research from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, in 2013, at the age of 73. She intends to turn her master’s thesis, titled “Jazz Widows,” into a book. It is a documentation of a collection of women who were married, and then widowed, to jazz musicians. She would also like to start a podcast. Hailing from a family of entertainers, which included musicians and vocalists, Melba Joyce is a lauded and award-winning jazz vocalist who has traveled across the globe to 60 countries in light of her singing prowess. Melba’s father, Melvin Moore, was a professional jazz singer with Dizzy Gillespie and other big bands. Commencing her career in the 1960s as a songwriter, she traveled to Vietnam twice to sing for military troops. As time progressed, Ms. Joyce became involved in a number of musical performances and performed at several venues, including the Lincoln Center in New York City, where she was a big band leader for the Mid-Summer Night Swing Series Program. Additionally, she was a vocalist for the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, a vocalist for The Count Basie Orchestra, and a jazz singer at the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Lake Tahoe. Alongside her musical endeavors, Ms. Joyce spent nearly 15 years serving as a music professor at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, as well as a music professor at Medgar Evers College between 2017 and 2019. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, aswell. Demonstrating versatility in the field of entertainment, Ms. Joyce was an actress in two movies, “Run for the Dream: The MELBA JOYCE ENTERTAINER, EDUCATOR (RETIRED) Bradmoore Productions Pasadena, CA
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