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A singer's dream is realized with 'Grace'

B.J. Thomas inspired a young Terry Moore to sing. A few bars of a spiritual with him after a local show keeps that faith strong.

By LORRI HELFAND
Published May 20, 2006

LARGO - Terry Moore had just a few minutes to seal the deal.

She was the opening act for her all-time idol B.J. Thomas. She planned to tell him how much his music has meant to her. She hoped to convince him to sing a duet with her.

Moore, 43, was standing in the wings of the stage two minutes before her performance at the Largo Cultural Center on Thursday night when she saw a tall slim man in a black suit just a few feet away.

"Mr. Thomas," she said.

"Don't call me mister," Thomas, 63, replied in a deep Texas drawl.

"Wow," was all the usually chatty Moore could think to say.

After a moment of silence, Thomas said, "I'm going to go back and listen."

"Okay," Moore said, as Thomas headed to the dressing room.

Then she added, "We need to talk."

Seconds later Moore was front and center, belting out Trisha Yearwood's Thinkin' About You to a capacity crowd of 399.

After hearty applause from the sold-out crowd, Moore blurted out, "I met B.J. Thomas just a minute ago, so I'm a little flustered."

Moore and her band wowed the audience with How Blue, Leavin' on Your Mind and Under the Boardwalk.

Then she told a story.

When she was a third-grader, her family moved from east Texas to Michigan. The kids teased her mercilessly about her accent. She escaped by listening to B.J. Thomas' "Greatest Hits" album. And she learned to sing.

"That's how I learned how to hear the tones," said Moore, who is Largo's special events coordinator when she's not singing.

After her set, Moore headed back stage, where she met Weston Mays, Thomas' tour manager.

"I'm really not a stalker," she said, but "what do you think the chances are that he would let me sing backup with him on Amazing Grace?"

Mays said it likely would be difficult to squeeze her into a prepared set.

"I'll ask him. That's all I can do," Mays said.

He told Moore he would grab her from the audience if Thomas gave the okay.

About 15 minutes later, Thomas, a five-time Grammy award winner, took the stage and Moore was sitting in the second row.

She kept her eyes peeled, hoping Mays would call her on stage. Soon, her childhood memories floated back as Thomas sang Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, Hooked on a Feeling and a dozen other hits.

Midway through his set, Thomas thanked his band.

Then he thanked Terry Moore and her band. "They sounded really good to me, and she looked really good and pretty," Thomas said.

Moore waited for Mays to give her a signal. But it never happened. Thomas closed his set with the Growing Pains theme song and Back Against the Wall, a powerful soulful tune.

After the concert, Moore cornered Thomas on his way to meet the fans. She described the first time they met. Eight years ago at his concert in Bossier City, La., she waited in the meet and greet line and told him her story, she said.

"I know you talk to thousands of people," she said. "You probably don't remember."

"I don't remember yesterday," Thomas said. Then he hugged her.

Seconds later, he scooted out to the lobby, where about a hundred fans were waiting to meet him.

Moore had a plan.

She waited until the last person in line greeted Thomas, who was seated behind a round table signing autographs. She introduced him to her daughters, Katy and Anne Marie Sharp, and her mother, Jessie Butterfield.

Then she gave it one more shot.

"If I kneel down here, will you sing a verse of Amazing Grace with me?" she asked.

She kneeled and rested her chin on the table opposite Thomas.

"It's been a long day," he said. "I don't know what key it's in."

Then he started to croon.

"Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound. ..."

Staring into his eyes, Moore chanted along, her voice as soft as a little girl's.

"... I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see."

[Last modified May 20, 2006, 01:58:12]