Sam Moore, who helped bring the sound of the church to pop music with a string of call-and-response hits as the high tenor in the Stax Records duo Sam & Dave with partner Dave Prater, has died. He was 89.
Moore died Friday morning in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications recovering from surgery, his rep Jeremy Westby confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.
Called “the greatest of all soul duos” by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who inducted the pair in 1992, Sam & Dave worked with the songwriting/production team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, using Booker T & the M.G.’s and the Memphis Horns as their backing band to produce a string of indelible rave-up hits from 1965 to 1968. The unprecedented combination of talent produced such fevered back-and-forth exchanges as “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “Hold On, I’m Coming,” “You Got Me Hummin’,” “Soul Man” and “I Thank You.” Along with labelmate Otis Redding, Sam & Dave were show-stopping live performers, electrifying the Stax revues of the mid-‘60s, creating the inspiration for Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi to create their own Ray Ban-wearing homage as The Blues Brothers.
Born on Oct. 12, 1935, in Miami — where he first met his soon-to-be-sidekick in 1961 — Samuel David Moore was a church-reared singer who performed with such gospel quarters as The Gales and The Millionaires, and once reportedly turned down an offer to replace a departing Sam Cooke in The Soul Stirrers. Moore and Prater, who was also an experienced gospel singer, crossed paths at Miami’s The King of Hearts club, where they were discovered by producer Henry Stone, who signed them to Roulette Records.
Experiencing only minor success at Roulette, the duo’s career really began to take off after they were signed by Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler in 1964, then “loaned” out to Stax Records to produce, record and release their records.
The pair’s November 1965 single, “You Don’t Know Like I Know” launched a series of 10 straight Top 20 Billboard R&B classics, including “Hold On, I’m Coming” (’66), “You Got Me Hummin’” (’66), “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby” (’67), “Soul Man” (’67) and “I Thank You” (’68), a majority of them written by Hayes and Porter.
The two, who were often at odds, broke up in 1970 with the end of their relationship with Stax Records. Sam & Dave’s off-and-on relationship continued throughout the rest of the ‘70s, until 1981, enjoying a resurgence in popularity with The Blues Brothers’ cover of “Soul Man” in 1979. The pair’s last performance together was New Year’s Eve 1981 at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. Prater died in a car crash on April 9, 1988.
Moore launched his own solo career after breaking up with Prater the first time in 1970, recording several singles for an album with Atlantic Records, which weren’t released for more than 30 years after the murder of the record’s producer, King Curtis.
Moore toured with other soul artists, including Wilson Pickett in Europe in the spring of 1982, where he married Joyce Mcrae, who helped him overcome a lengthy drug addiction. Moore not only went public with his addiction in 1983, he became a strong anti-drug advocate and worked as a volunteer for various anti-drug programs. His wife remained Moore’s business manager until his death, working with him to advocate artist’s rights, royalties and pension payments.
Moore found his opportunities as a solo performer apart from Prater waning, and at one point, was forced to sue Prater to prevent him from going out as Sam & Dave with another singer, Sam Daniels. Moore eventually formed an organization, Artists and Others Against Imposters, to prevent groups from deceiving the public by going out without their original members, testifying before Congress in 1989.
Moore performed on Don Henley’s Building The Perfect Beast album in 1984 on the song, “You’re Not Drinking Enough,” and two years later re-recorded “Soul Man” with Lou Reed for the film of the same name, reaching No. 30 on the U.K. singles chart. In 1988, he joined the Elwood Blues Revue, featuring Dan Aykroyd and The Blues Brothers band.
Moore appeared in Monkee Michael Nesmith’s 1988 film spoof, Tapeheads, with Junior Walker as the “legendary” soul duo, The Swanky Modes. They later performed the song, “Ordinary Ma,” from the movie together on Late Night With David Letterman. The pairing represented a rare joining of artists from both the Stax and Motown labels.
Moore toured Europe with Booker T & the M.G.’S, Carla Thomas and Eddie Floyd in 1990 and in 1991, recorded several songs for Red, Hot & Blues with Republican Party official and avid blues guitarist Lee Atwater. That same year, Moore was the recipient of a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.
In 1992, Sam & Dave were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with Moore bringing Hayes and Porter — as well as Prater’s eldest son David Prater Jr. — onstage to share the honor. In 1992, Moore recorded several songs with major fan Bruce Springsteen for his Human Touch album, and had a hit in 1994 with his Conway Twitty duet, “Rainy Night In Georgia.”
Moore continued to tour throughout the ‘90s, releasing “I’m a Dole Man,” for Presidential candidate Bob Dole to play at voter rallies, though the publishing company forced the campaign to stop using it. In 1997, Moore published his autobiography, Sam & Dave – An Oral History, co-written with Dave Marsh, which offered an honest look at his drug problems.
Moore appeared in Blues Brothers 2000, the 1998 sequel, as the Reverend Morris, fulfilling a childhood dream of being a preacher, singing “John The Revelator.” He also had roles in Armsted Maupin’s PBS series, Tales of the City, as the Reverend Willie Sessums, and played himself in Paul Simon’s One Trick Pony.
In 1999, “Soul Man” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone would recognize the song as one of the 500 greatest of all time in 2004.
Moore’s previously unreleased 1971 solo album, Plenty Good Lovin’, finally came out in 2002, featuring Aretha Franklin on piano for the King Curtis-produced disc. He then starred in D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Only The Strong Survive, chronicling his previous drug abuse. In 2003, he was a featured performer at Bruce Springsteen’s Asbury Park Christmas shows.
Moore released his solo album, Overnight Sensational, produced by Randy Jackson, in 2006, featuring cameos by Sting, Mariah Carey, Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Fantasia, among many others. One of the songs, a cover of “You Are So Beautiful,” featuring Billy Preston and Eric Clapton, received a Grammy nomination. That same year, he participated in a tribute to Wilson Pickett with Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and The Edge as the closing performance on the Grammy Awards.
Moore performed both “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’” with Springsteen and The E-Street Band at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 25th anniversary concert in 2009. He also performed at a George Jones tribute concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena in November 2013.
He is survived by his wife Joyce and “14 or 15 children,” by his own estimate he fathered by several different mothers, according to an interview he gave to The Independent back in 2002, explaining: “I’m in touch with three or four of them, that’s sad when you consider there’s so many of them. I used to crave connection with my children, but some have chosen not to make that connection, some of them resent me or want me to pay for them. I can understand that.”
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