Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man in the duo Sam & Dave, dies

11 January 2025, 05:29 | Updated: 11 January 2025, 07:22

Sam Moore, who sang Soul Man and other 1960s hits in the legendary Sam & Dave duo, has died aged 89.

Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery, his publicist Jeremy Westby said.

No additional details were immediately available.

Moore was inducted with Dave Prater, who had died in a 1988 car crash, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

The duo, at the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, transformed the "call and response" of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music's most enduring hits, including Hold On, I'm Comin'.

Many of their records were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the record label's house band Booker T & the MGs.

Sam & Dave faded after their 1960s heyday but Soul Man hit 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 becoming associated with the Saturday Night Live stars, remembering how young people believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.

Sam & Dave broke up in 1970 and neither had another major hit.

Moore later said his drug habit played a part in the band's troubles and made record executives wary of giving him a fresh start.

He married his wife Joyce in 1982, and she helped him get treatment for his addiction that he credited with saving his life.

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Moore spent years suing Prater after his former partner hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam & Dave.

He also lost a lawsuit claiming the pair of aging, estranged singers in the 2008 movie Soul Men was too close to the duo.

In another legal case, he and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993, claiming he had been cheated out of retirement benefits.

Despite his million-selling records, he said in 1994 his pension amounted to just 2,285 US dollars (£1,872), which he could take as a lump sum or in monthly payments of 73 US dollars (£60).

"Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?" Moore said at the time. "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 wrote Dole Man, based on Soul Man, for Republican Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign and was one of the few entertainers who performed at President Donald Trump's inaugural festivities in 2017.

Eight years earlier, he objected to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's use of the song Hold On, I'm Comin' during his campaign.

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