Soul Legend Sam Moore Dead at 89
Along with partner Dave Prater, he helped define an era
Legendary soul singer Sam Moore has passed away. He was 89.
He died this morning in Coral Gables, Florida, from complications while recovering from surgery.
Moore — with his trademark tenor that distinctively rose through every song he performed — was half of the Grammy winning duo Sam & Dave with former baker Dave Prater. Together, they helped define the soul music coming out of Stax Records and Atlantic Records with a run of hits that includes “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” “I Thank You” and many more. Sam & Dave were inducted into the Rock and Roll of Fame in 1992.
Moore and Prater, who famously resented each other, broke up in 1970. Yet while Moore would go on to have a solo career punctuated by a crippling heroin addiction, the duo would work together off-and-on until 1981, following a resurgence in popularity after The Blues Brothers’ covered “Soul Man” on Saturday Night Live in 1979. The pair’s last performance together was New Year’s Eve 1981 at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. Prater died in a car crash on April 9, 1988.
VIDEO: The Blues Brothers “Soul Man”
Over the years, Sam became a mainstay performer at the Kennedy Center. He performed for six presidents — Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. At Dan Aykroyd’s 50th birthday, Sam performed with Clinton, who played the saxophone to accompany him. He also performed for Barack Obama at the White House.
More than once, Bruce Springsteen loudly and proudly introduced Sam as “The greatest living soul singer on the planet!” Springsteen invited him to sing on his Human Touch album in 1992, and again in 2023 on his collection of R&B covers, Only the Strong Survive. When the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated its 25th birthday at Madison Square Garden (where Sam & Dave performed at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s memorial in 1968), Springsteen featured Sam during his set.
AUDIO: Sam Moore Plenty Good Lovin‘
Moore’s previously unreleased 1971 solo album, Plenty Good Lovin’, finally came out in 2002, featuring Aretha Franklin on piano and King Curtis behind the boards. He then starred in D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary, Only The Strong Survive, chronicling his previous drug abuse.
Right up until the very end, Moore never lost the power in his voice, and was in the process of recording a gospel album at the time of his death with producer Rudy Perez.
He is survived by his wife and longtime manager Joyce McRae and, by Moore’s estimation, around “14 or 15 children.”
“I’m in touch with three or four of them, that’s sad when you consider there’s so many of them,” he told The Independent in 2002. “I used to crave connection with my children, but some have chosen not to make that connection, some of them resent me or want me to pay for them. I can understand that.”
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