‘Gatemouth’ Moore, 90; Blues and Gospel Singer Was Ordained Minister

Arnold Dwight “Gatemouth” Moore, 90, a blues singer who wrote songs later recorded by B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, died Wednesday in Yazoo City, Miss.

In addition to “Did You Ever Love a Woman?,” which King and Thomas recorded, Moore wrote “Somebody’s Got to Go” and “I Ain’t Mad at You, Pretty Baby.”

Born in Topeka, Kan., Moore was raised in Memphis, Tenn. He arrived in Kansas City at age 16, and sang with the bands of Bennie Moten, Tommy Douglas and Walter Barnes.

He was ordained a minister in 1949 in Chicago, and through the 1970s he recorded gospel music and worked on religious programs on television and radio.

His last album, “Great R&B; Oldies,” in 1977, included rerecorded blues classics and new songs, including a salute to his Memphis stomping ground in “Beale Street Ain’t Beale Street No More.”