Sam Moore, one half of seminal duo Sam & Dave, died on Friday (January 10) in Coral Gables, Florida. He is 89 years old.
Moore has been admired by artists including Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Garth Brooks and Jon Bon Jovi, and his male The high notes are instantly recognizable, and the first time I heard Moore’s voice was on Sam & Dave’s 1960s hit “Hold On, I’m Coming” and the Grammy Award-winning “Soul Man” advertising billboard‘s Hot R&B Singles chart, as well as “IThank You” and “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby.” After the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968, the two performed at a memorial concert at Madison Square Garden and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 by Billy Joel.
Growing up in Miami, Moore began singing in church and caught the attention of another legend, Sam Cooke, who wanted Moore to replace him in his gospel group, the Soul Stirrs. However, after watching Jackie Wilson perform, Moore switched from gospel to pop and met Dave Prater while performing at the King O’Hearts club, with whom he formed Sam & Dave.
Legendary Atlantic Records Executive Ahmed Ertegun, Tom Dodd and Jerry Wexler Wexler saw the pair at the King O’Hearts Club in 1965 and signed them to his record label. Isaac Hayes and David Porter took them under their wing and produced their iconic hits.
After Sam and Dave broke up in 1970, Moore signed as a solo artist to Atlantic Records. He recorded a solo album produced by King Curtis and featured Donny Hathaway and Aretha Franklin. However, after Curtis was murdered in 1971, the album was shelved. He reunited with Dave for a few years but fell into a heroin addiction, which was documented in the DA Pennebaker/Chris Hegedus documentary Only the strong will survive.
Interest in the pair revived significantly in the 1980s blues brothers Movie starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. The pair’s theme song is their raucous version of “Soul Man.”
In 2002, when “Soul Man” was added to the library’s National Recording Registry, Moore told the Library of Congress in an interview that the song “turned out to be an anthem, kind of like ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ or one of the One song”. “And, I tell you, no matter where I sang – performed – at the end of the night, it didn’t matter; if we didn’t do ‘Soul Man,’ the room would go up in smoke!
Moore also shared how he and Platt, with help from Hayes, worked out how to exchange poetry. “I was the dominant one – and I’m not bragging here – I always sang the high notes,” he said in the same interview. “We went back with Isaac and he took us back and forth [with the verses]. Isaac said, “Sam, try something like this.” I remember him saying, “We want it to be bright.” This is not a dull opening. That’s why all you hear are high notes. Isaac was the one who made the suggestion.
In the early 1980s, Moore became sober with the help of Joyce McRae.
Moore went on to perform for six U.S. presidents—Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump—and was a frequent guest at JFK Center Honors Performance.
Sting invited Moore to perform in his “1992” Humanized album, and Only the strong can survivehis 2023 soul album cover.
Moore recovers his lost 1970 album, Lots of loveand was released through EMI in 2002. “I met Sam and his wife Joyce in my 20s while working at Rhino Records, which reissued classic Sam & Dave albums,” says Creative Director of Exceleration Music David Gormanthe album he played a major role in, finally sees the light of day. “I was such a drooling fan that I showed up at our first meeting with $45 and asked for his autograph. The $45 was his solo single “If I Should Lose Your Love.” When he picked it up, his jaw dropped because he had completely forgotten he had ever recorded a solo record. Over dinner, memories came flooding back to him, and he remembered making the entire album, but not its fate. I’ll ask as soon as I get back to Los Angeles [mastering engineer] Bill Inglot, if it actually existed, found the tapes within days and sent a CD-R. marvelous. Sam, Joyce and I worked together to find a new home for this solo album that no one remembered making.
Four years later, Moore released his first new album in thirty years, A sensation overnightHe has performed with Bon Jovi, Sting, Springsteen and Billy Preston, for whose duet “You Are So Beautiful” he received a Grammy nomination.
In 2019, Moore and Platt received the Recording Academy’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.
In his later years, in addition to continuing to perform, Moore became an advocate for artists, including testifying before Congress on behalf of the Fair Play and Fair Pay Act, which would have paid performers for radio airplay.
“His loss is deep,” Gorman said. “As a person, he was a joyful force who lit up everyone around him. As an artist, he had the explosive ability to make people stand out – even Otis [Redding] I was terrified of following Sam and Dave on stage, but I discovered that Sam’s genius lay in his records, especially the ballads. Sam’s cries, his narration, the way he would use time as a weapon to hit you when you’re most hurting or healing, gave me comfort and companionship in a way that no other artist could. He can up the tempo and turn up the heat, but his slow burn is untouchable. He was a master, the last of his kind.
At the time of Moore’s death, he was working on a gospel album with Rudy Perez. He is survived by Joyce, daughter Michelle and grandchildren Tash and Misha.
