Sam Moore, Part Of Iconic Sam & Dave Duo Known For Hits Like ‘Soul Man,' Dead At 89

The duo transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Sam Moore, the surviving half and higher voice of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave that was known for such definitive hits of the era as “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin,’” has died. He was 89.

Publicist Jeremy Westby said Moore died Friday morning in Coral Gables, Florida, due to complications while recovering from surgery. No additional details were immediately available.

Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, was inducted with Dave Prater into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

At the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, Moore and Prater were second only to Otis Redding. They transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, which also included “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” “When Something is Wrong With My Baby” and “I Thank You.”

Most of their hits were written and produced by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter and featured the Stax house band Booker T. & the MGs, whose guitarist Steve Cropper received one of music’s most famous shoutouts when Sam & Dave called “Play it, Steve” midway through “Soul Man.”