Sam Moore, the 89-year-old sole surviving member of the 1960s soul duo Sam & Dave, died on Jan. 10 in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications suffered while he was recovering from surgery, according to his publicist, Jeremy Westby.
According to NPR, the legacy of Sam Moore and Dave Prater can be heard and felt in the work of musicians such as Al Green, Michael Jackson. The pair was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
During the pair’s tenure at Stax Records, they were second only to the late, great Otis Redding, and, according to the “Stax: Soulsville USA” documentary, arguably their biggest song, “Soul Man” became a signifier for supporters of the Civil Rights movement, particularly the Black Power movement as depicted by Issac Hayes, another cornerstone of Stax following the untimely death of Redding.
According to NPR, the group, as many other 1960s era soul acts, faded from the charts after that decade ended, but would be revived in subsequent decades due to the 1970’s film “The Blues Brothers,” in which “Saturday Night Live” alums Dan Aykroyd and Jim Belushi revived and recorded the song with most of the members of Booker T & The MG’s who recorded the original song with Sam and Dave.
Moore, however, had mixed feelings about the song’s resurgence because some young people believed the song was originally the property of “The Blues Brothers” film.
Moore also took issue with the 2008 film, “Soul Men,” which starred Samuel L. Jackson and the late Bernie Mac, telling the story of a pair of aging and estranged singers because he believed the pair’s resemblance to the real life “Soul Man” duo was a bit too close for his liking.
Moore did file a lawsuit over the depiction, but ultimately lost his court battle.
True to the film’s depiction of its purportedly fictional amalgamation of various soul groups, Moore sued Prater for a number of years after the latter hired a singer to take Moore’s place and began touring as the New Sam & Dave.
Prater would later tragically die in a car crash in Georgia in 1988, leaving Moore as the group’s sole surviving member.
Moore would later agitate for retirement benefits he alleged that the recording industry had cheated him out of, joining a lawsuit against several record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993.
According to a 1994 Associated Press interview, Moore recounted his reasoning for joining the lawsuit to the outlet.
“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.”
Curiously, Moore went from singing a song that was deeply associated with the Black Power movement in the 1960s to tacitly supporting President Donald Trump by performing at his 2017 inauguration.
Like most artists of his generation, Moore got his start in music by singing in church, where he learned to perform.
During the 1950s, he would sing at soul and R&B clubs, but did not meet Prater until 1961, and they became a popular duo in Miami once Moore helped Prater with the lyrics of a song he was working on.
This popularity led to Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler sending them to the company’s Stax subsidiary in 1965 after they signed to Atlantic.
Moore is survived by his wife, Joyce, daughter Michell, and two grandchildren.
RELATED CONTENT: Donald Trump Sued By Isaac Hayes Estate For Using ‘Hold On, I’m Coming’ At Campaign Rallies
