‘Double Dynamite‘, was their nickname. The audience had to melt, become ‘liquid’, only then would a performance be successful in their eyes. The shows of the American soul duo Sam & Dave were so energetic – writes The New York Times – that even the big ones soul master Otis Redding preferred not to be on the same bill with them, for fear of looking pale.
Singer Sam Moore passed away on Friday at the age of 89. Complications after surgery, his management reports. Together with Dave Prater, who died in 1988 after a car accident, Moore formed the duo Sam & Dave, which scored hits in the 1960s with songs such as ‘I Thank You, Hold On, I’m Comin’ and – perhaps the most famous – ‘Soul Man’. With the latter song, “the most successful soul duo ever”, according to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, won a Grammy in 1968. They received an award from the Recording Academy in 2019 for their entire oeuvre.
And while the two had actually met by accident. In the early 1960s in a Miami nightclub, Dave Prater on stage forgot the lyrics to a song and Sam Moore came to his rescue. They clicked and together they transformed traditional gospel, which was still based on the ‘call and response‘-principle, into one crazy show. No more’Praise the lord!’ but ‘Praise the love!‘, whereby “Play it, Steve!” in the song ‘Soul Man’, addressed to guitarist Steve Cropper, became one of the most famous catchphrases in music history.
Heroin addiction
Moore was born in Miami in 1935 and began his singing career in church. Like Prater, he subsequently performed in local soul and R&B clubs. After meeting in 1961, they continued as a duo. They signed with Atlantic Records in 1965 and toured the United States and Europe. But a heroin addiction and always hanging out together, constantly in each other’s presence, broke the duo up. They separated in 1970. Moore and Praten each started a solo career, but neither had any major hits after that.
Moore married in 1982 and was freed from drug addiction thanks to his wife. Afterwards, according to the AP news agency, he often ended up on cruise ships, where he performed to supplement his pension. Because, despite the many millions of records sold, that amounted to no more than $2,285 in total. In 2017, Moore was one of the few artists willing to perform around the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. And in 2023 he was on stage in Las Vegas with other great artists from the past, where of course the song ‘Soul Man’ was performed. Sung by The Soul Man.