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Lupus diagnosis won't stop local jazz singer

Posted at 3:04 PM, Mar 24, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-24 18:47:15-04

Channeling jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, Stephanie Moore takes the Blue Room stage.

"I love hearing the cord structures, I love hearing how the notes but together," she said. "I go, 'Oh my God, it's like a complete new sound. It's like angels, it's like chocolate.'"

It's the first time in months that she's been well enough to belt out the velvety smooth songs from America's jazz age.

LISTEN: Hear a live show at the American Jazz Museum

"Every song is different," she explained. "It's kind of like every flower is different. You may have a bunch of daisies and you'll see something slightly different in one that may inspire you to be your better Daisy, to be a better you."

Moore has lupus, an autoimmune disease. Unable to decipher the good cells from the bad, her own body is attacking itself, damaging vital tissues and organs.

"Throughout that time I have been singing off and on," she said in reference to the diagnosis, which she received in 1991. A recent health scare kept her off the stage for the last four months. "The music for me is my therapy, it's my medicine, it is part of my wellness team along with my doctors."

MORE: Learn all about the signs, symptoms and treatment options for lupus

And that's precisely why she sings, to give a voice to herself and her disease.

"Regardless if you have lupus or any other disease, you still have a song within you that needs to be heard," she said. "Everybody has a song."

And now Moore invites you to hear her song. She sings Thursday, March 24 at the Blue Room at 18th and Vine with Max Berry and Friends.

To celebrate Women in Jazz Month, the American Jazz Museum will feature a woman jazz musician every night through March 31. Click here for a calendar.

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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.

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