On stage in the 1960s, Sam and Dave were so explosive that they were billed as “Double Dynamite”, and other acts were reluctant to follow them. Sam Moore, the higher voice of the duo and its surviving member, died on January 10, 2025, in Coral Gables, Florida, from complications after surgery. He was 89. His wife, Joyce Moore, confirmed his death.
Miami church to Memphis
Moore was born in Miami on October 12, 1935, and grew up singing gospel in church. He met Dave Prater at a Miami club in the early 1960s, and the two began performing together. In 1965 they were signed by Atlantic Records and sent to Memphis to record for its partner label, Stax, where the songwriting team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter wrote for them and the house band, Booker T. and the MGs, played on their records.
Soul Man
“Hold On, I’m Comin'”, in 1966, was their breakthrough, and “Soul Man”, in 1967, became their biggest hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and winning a Grammy. The call-and-response between Moore’s tenor and Prater’s rougher baritone, built on gospel, defined the Stax sound for many listeners. A decade later the Blues Brothers’ version of “Soul Man” introduced the song to a new generation.
Later years
Sam and Dave split and reunited several times, and their relationship was famously difficult. Prater died in a car crash in 1988. Moore went on recording and performing, and the duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Singers including Bruce Springsteen and Al Green named him as an influence, and Memphis musicians who had worked at Stax paid tribute to him after his death.
Moore spent most of his life singing songs he had first recorded in his early thirties, and audiences kept asking for them until the end. “Soul Man” is still the song most people think of when they hear the word.