 Born and brought up on the northeast side of Detroit, Moy studied and performed jazz and classical music at Northern High School, before she was seen performing in a club in 1963 by Marvin Gaye and Mickey Stevenson.She was given recording and songwriting contracts by Motown, but was urged to prioritize her songwriting because the company was short of material for its artists.According to Berry Gordy's autobiography "To Be Loved", Moy was directly responsible for the label keeping Stevie Wonder.