Early life Moore was born Mary Willie Grace Moore, the daughter of Tessa Jane (née Stokely) and Richard Lawson Moore. She was born in the community of Slabtown (now considered part of Del Rio) in Cocke County, Tennessee. By the time she was two years old, her family had relocated to Knoxville, a move Moore later described as traumatic. She found urban life distasteful at the time.Jack Neely, "Grace Under Pressure." From the Shadow Side (Oak Ridge, Tenn.: Tellico Books, 2003), pp. 167–174. After several years in Knoxville, the family again relocated to Jellico, Tennessee, where Moore spent her adolescence. After high school in Jellico, she studied briefly at Ward-Belmont College in NashvilleZepp, George. Opera star trained at Ward-Belmont The Tennessean, April 26, 2006. before moving to Washington, D.C., and New York City to continue her musical training and begin her career. The Black Cat Café in Greenwich Village was where she landed her first professional singing gig. She relocated to New York in 1919 to pursue her singing career and performed there in nightclubs to help pay for singing classes.
Early life Moore was born Mary Willie Grace Moore, the daughter of Tessa Jane (née Stokely) and Richard Lawson Moore. She was born in the community of Slabtown (now considered part of Del Rio) in Cocke County, Tennessee. By the time she was two years old, her family had relocated to Knoxville, a move Moore later described as traumatic. She found urban life distasteful at the time.Jack Neely, "Grace Under Pressure." From the Shadow Side (Oak Ridge, Tenn.: Tellico Books, 2003), pp. 167–174. After several years in Knoxville, the family again relocated to Jellico, Tennessee, where Moore spent her adolescence. After high schoo:l in Jellico, she studied briefly at Ward-Belmont College in NashvilleZepp, George. Opera star trained at Ward-Belmont The Tennessean, April 26, 2006. before moving to Washington, D.C., and New York City to continue her musical training and begin her career. The Black Cat Café in Greenwich Village was where she landed her first professional singing gig. She relocated to New York in 1919 to pursue her singing career and performed there in nightclubs to help pay for singing classes.