October 12: Sam Moore of the R&B duo, Sam & Dave - "Hold On, I'm Comin'" "Soul Man" - is 76-years-old today.

Samuel David Moore - born Samuel David Hicks - in 1935 in Winchester, Georgia was half of the soul and rhythm and blues duo who performed together from 1961 through 1981. Sam's was the higher, or tenor voice while the baritone or lower voice was Dave Prater.

Sam & Dave were the most successful and critically acclaimed duo in Soul Music history. Moore and Prater were both experienced gospel music singers, having performed individually with groups the Sensational Hummingbirds and The Melionaires. They met in The King of Hearts Club in Miami in 1961. The duo's November 1965 single, "You Don't Know Like I Know," started a series of ten straight top twenty Billboard R&B hits that included "Hold On! I'm Comin'" (1966), "You Got Me Hummin' (1966), "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" (1967), "Soul Man" (1967), and "I Thank You" (1968).

 

Most of their hits were penned by Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter. In most recordings, they were also backed by Hayes on piano with Booker T and the MGs and The Memphis Horns.

Moore began his solo career after he and Prater parted in June 1970, and was offered to record several singles with Atlantic Records in 1970 and 1971. These singles, were to be released on an album produced by King Curtis, who was murdered in 1971, shelving the album. Moore got back together with Prater in August 1971. Sam & Dave performed throughout most of the 1970s through 1981, and enjoyed a brief resurgence in popularity due to The Blues Brothers's 1979 recording of "Soul Man". Their last performance together was on 31 December 1981, at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco. On 9 April 1988, Prater died in a car crash in Sycamore, Georgia.

Moore has also achieved a distinguished 25 year career as a solo performing and recording artist. In 2008, based on a poll of other musicians, Rolling Stone Magazine named Sam Moore one of the 100 greatest singers of the rock era (1950's-2008).

Moore has also teamed up with other recording artists, including Conway Twitty, Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Elton John, Phil Collins, Lou Reed and others, on various live and recorded performances. Moore toured with other soul artists including Wilson Pickett in Europe in the spring of 1982.

Sam Moore is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame - for "Soul Man" - The Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and a Grammy Award and a multi-Gold Record award winning recording artist. in 2002 called Sam Moore "The Greatest Living Soul Singer." In 2006, Moore received a MOBO (Music of Black Origin) lifetime achievement award in the UK.

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