​Sam Moore dies at 89; singer with duo Sam & Dave had lasting hit with ‘Soul Man’

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Sam Moore, the surviving half and better voice of the Sixties duo Sam & Dave that was recognized for such definitive hits of the period as “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin,’” has died. He was 89.

Publicist Jeremy Westby mentioned Moore died Friday morning in Coral Gables, Florida, resulting from issues whereas recovering from surgical procedure. No further particulars had been instantly obtainable.

Moore, whose admirers ranged from Al Inexperienced to Bruce Springsteen, was inducted with Dave Prater into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 1992.

On the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Data, Moore and Prater ranked solely behind Otis Redding because the label’s largest stars. They reworked the “call and response” of gospel music right into a frenzied stage present and recorded a few of soul music’s most enduring hits, which additionally included “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “When Something is Wrong With My Baby” and “I Thank You.”

Most of their hits had been written and produced by the workforce of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the Stax home band Booker T. & the MGs, whose guitarist Steve Cropper obtained certainly one of music’s most well-known shoutouts when Sam & Dave referred to as “Play it, Steve” halfway by way of “Soul Man.”

Like many ’60s soul acts, Sam & Dave pale after the Sixties. However “Soul Man” hit the charts once more within the late Nineteen Seventies when “Blues Brothers” John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd recorded it with most of the identical musicians. Moore had combined emotions concerning the hit turning into related to the “Saturday Night Live” stars, remembering how younger individuals believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.

In 2008, the film “Soul Men” depicted a pair of growing older, estranged singers who bore greater than a bit of resemblance to Sam & Dave. Moore misplaced a lawsuit claiming the resemblance was too shut.

He additionally spent years suing Prater after Prater employed a substitute and toured because the New Sam & Dave. Prater died in a 1988 automobile crash in Georgia.

In 1993, Moore was amongst quite a few artists who pressed authorized claims that the report business had cheated them out of retirement advantages. Moore and different artists sued a number of report firms and the American Federation of Tv and Radio Artists.

Moore instructed The Related Press in 1994 that he joined the authorized effort after studying, regardless of his million-selling data, his pension amounted to simply $2,285, which he might take as a lump sum or in funds of $73 month-to-month.

“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore mentioned then. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”

Moore performs throughout a pre-inaugural celebration on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington in 2017. He was among the many few entertainers who carried out for Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities that 12 months. (David J. Phillip/Related Press Archives)

Moore additionally turned concerned in politics. He wrote the track “Dole Man,” modeled on “Soul Man,” for Republican Bob Dole’s presidential marketing campaign in 1996. In 2017, he was among the many few entertainers who carried out for Republican President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities. Eight years earlier, Moore had objected when Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s marketing campaign used “Hold On, I’m Comin’.”

Moore was born Oct. 12, 1935, in Miami and bought his begin singing in church.

He and Prater carried out in soul and R&B golf equipment within the Fifties, however didn’t meet till 1961 in Miami. Moore helped coach Prater on the lyrics of a track they usually shortly turned a well-liked native duo. In 1965, after signing with Atlantic Data, producer Jerry Wexler despatched them to the label’s Stax subsidiary in Memphis.

Moore and Prater argued usually and Moore instructed the AP in 2006 {that a} drug behavior, which he kicked in 1981, performed an element within the band’s troubles and later made leisure executives leery of giving him a recent begin. The duo broke up in 1970 and neither had one other main hit, although Moore did work usually with Springsteen, whom Moore would name certainly one of his closest associates. They carried out collectively on stage and sang on one another’s albums, together with on the excessive power duet “Real World.”

“RIP Sam Moore,” Springsteen sideman Steve Van Zandt posted on X. “One of the last of the great Soul Men. Him and Dave Prater were the inspiration for me and Johnny to start Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. An important righteous wonderful man.”

He married his spouse, Joyce, in 1982, and he or she helped him get therapy for his dependancy that he credited with saving his life.

“I did a lot of cruise ships, I did a lot of oldies shows,” throughout these struggles, he mentioned, including that he as soon as opened for a bunch of Elvis impersonators.

“That’s funny to think back to it now. And I did a lot of shows where if I did a show with an oldie show, I had to actually audition,” he mentioned. “But you know what? You keep your mouth shut and you get up there and you sing as hard and perform as hard as you can, and get the little money and go on about your business and try and pay those bills. I’m laughing about it now, but at that time, man, it was really serious.”

Moore stored recording and singing. He was a frequent performer on the Kennedy Heart Honors and sang for Obama amongst different presidents.

Moore is survived by his spouse, Joyce; daughter, Michell; and two grandchildren.