Sam Moore, from the 1960s duo Sam and Dave who were known for hits like Soul Man and Hold On, I'm Comin', has died at the age of 89, his publicist has announced.
Jeremy Westby said Moore died on Friday morning at Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery.
Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, was inducted with Dave Prater into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
Most of their hits were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the Stax house band, Booker T & the MGs.
That band's guitarist Steve Cropper received one of music’s most famous shout-outs when Sam and Dave called “Play it, Steve” midway through Soul Man.
Like many early soul acts, Sam and Dave faded after the 1960s. 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, who had the higher of the two voices in the duo, 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.
In 2008, the movie Soul Men depicted a pair of aging, estranged singers who bore more than a little resemblance to Sam and Dave. Moore lost a lawsuit claiming the resemblance was too close.
He also spent years suing Prater after Prater hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam and Dave. Prater died in a 1988 car crash in Georgia.
Moore also pressed legal claims that the record industry had cheated him out of retirement benefits. Moore and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993.
Moore said in 1994 that he joined the legal effort after learning, despite his million-selling records, his pension amounted to just $2,285, which he could take as a lump sum or in payments of $73 monthly.
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said 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 also wrote the song, Dole Man, modelled 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 inaugural festivities.
Eight years earlier, Moore had objected when Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign used the song Hold On, I’m Comin’.
Moore was born on October 12, 1935, in Miami and got his start singing in church.
He and Prater performed separately in clubs in the 1950s, but didn’t meet until 1961 in Miami.
Moore helped coach Prater on the lyrics of a song and they quickly became a popular local duo.
In 1965, after signing with Atlantic Records, producer Jerry Wexler sent them to the label’s Stax subsidiary in Memphis.
Moore is survive by his wife, Joyce, daughter, Michell, and two grandchildren.
AP/ABC
