Sam Moore, the surviving half and tenor voice of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave, best known for the era's definitive hits such as “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I'm Comin',” has died. He was 89 years old.
Publicist Jeremy Westby said Moore died Friday morning in Coral Gables, Florida, of complications while recovering from surgery. No additional details were immediately available.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 along with Dave Prater.
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At Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, Moore and Prater were second in command to Otis Redding. They turned the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenetic stage show and recorded some of soul music's most enduring hits, including “You Don't Know Like I Know,” “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby” and . “I thank you.”
Most of their hits were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and included Stax house band Booker T and the MGs, whose guitarist Steve Cropper got one of music's most famous shout-outs when Sam and Dave sang “Play It” said. Steve” in the middle of “Soul Man”.
Like many soul acts of the '60s, Sam and Dave faded after the 1960s. But “Soul Man” reached the charts again in the late 1970s when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, recorded it with many of the same musicians. Moore had mixed feelings about the hit being associated with the “Saturday Night Live” stars, remembering how young people believed it started with the Blues Brothers.
In 2008, the film “Soul Men” featured a pair of aging, estranged singers who bear some resemblance to Sam and Dave. Moore lost the case, claiming that the resemblance was too close.
He also spent years suing Prater after Prater hired a replacement and toured as the New Sam & Dave. Prater died in a car accident in Georgia in 1988.
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Moore also pressed legal claims that the record industry defrauded him of retirement benefits. Moore and other artists sued several record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993.
Moore told The Associated Press in 1994 that he became involved in the legal effort when he learned that despite a sales record worth millions, his pension was worth only $2,285, which he could receive as a lump sum or as monthly payments of $73. I could take.
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said then. “If you're going to make a profit off of me, give me something too. Don't give me cornbread and tell me it's a biscuit.”
Moore wrote the song “Dole Man”, based on “Soul Man”, for Republican Bob Dole's presidential campaign in 1996. In 2017, he was among the few entertainers who performed for Republican President Donald Trump's inauguration celebration. Eight years ago, Moore objected when the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama used the song “Hold On, I'm Comin'”.
Moore was born in Miami on October 12, 1935, and began singing in church.
He and Prater performed in soul and R&B clubs in the 1950s but did not meet until 1961 in Miami. Moore helped Prater teach him the lyrics to a song and they soon became a popular local duo. In 1965, after signing with Atlantic Records, producer Jerry Wexler sent him to the label's Stax subsidiary in Memphis.
Moore and Prater argued frequently, and Moore told the AP in 2006 that his drug habit, which he quit in 1981, played a role in the band's troubles and later led entertainment executives to ask him for a fresh start. Inspired to give. The pair broke up in 1970 and neither had another major success.
He married his wife, Joyce, in 1982 and she helped him get treatment for his addiction, which he credited with saving his life.
During those struggles, he said, “I worked on a lot of cruise ships, I did a lot of old shows,” and also said that he once opened for a group of Elvis impersonators.
He said, “It's weird to think about it now. And I've done a lot of shows where if I do a show with an older cast, I actually have to audition.” “But you know what? You keep your mouth shut and you get in there and you sing as loud as you can and perform as hard as you can, and get a little money and go about your business. And try and pay those bills. I'm laughing about it now, but at the time, man, it was really serious.”
Moore kept recording and singing. He frequently performs at the Kennedy Center Honors and has performed for presidents, including Obama.
Moore is survived by his wife, Joyce, daughter Michelle, and two grandchildren.