RIP Sam Moore, sole survivor – and soul survivor – of Sam & Dave, the duo known for their two biggest hits Soul Man and Hold On, I’m A Comin’.

Sad news of the demise of Sam Moore, sole survivor – and soul survivor – of the duo dubbed Double Dynamite, The Sultans Of Sweat and, apparently, The Dynamic Duo (though I always thought that was Batman and Robin).

I have to confess that for many years, whenever I heard them on the radio singing one of their two signature songs, Soul Man and this one – Hold On, I’m Coming – I thought they were not a duo but a single singer…. a singer by the name of Salmon Dave.

I know that sounds like a lame Dad Joke but it’s true. In an added embarrassment, I think the first time I heard Soul Man was when it was sung by John Belushi and Dan Ayckroyd in The Blues Brothers in 1978.

Anyway, I did eventually discover that there were two of them – Sam AND Dave – but possibly not before Dave Prater who sang in a gritty baritone, popped his clogs in a car accident way back in 1988.

I might also have been under the impression that Sam Moore, the one with the higher tenor voice, had also died some time ago. In fact he outlived Dave by several decades and died this week at the ripe old age of 89.

The duo met in a Miami nightclub in 1961 when they hit upon their call-and-response style by accident when both were solo singers. A nervous Dave was onstage when he forgot the words to a Jackie Wilson song and Sam helped him out – to an ecstatic response from the audience.

They then joined forces, recreating what was then an unusual singing style for a duo, and enjoyed a golden spell at Stax from 1966-68, knocking out Southern Soul classics with a hit rate bettered only by Aretha Franklin, including 10 consecutive Top 20 singles on the American R&B chart.
Their early hits at Stax were written by the MGs’ guitarist Steve Cropper but Soul Man and Hold On I’m Coming were composed by two newcomers to writing and producing, Isaac Hayes and David Porter..

The music on both is played by Stax’s house band, Booker T. & The MGs, and horn section The Mar-Keys – the same world-class crew who recorded with other Stax stars including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Carla Thomas – and engineered by Stax founder Jim Stewart, who created the Memphis Sound by recording live in a single take.

According to legend, Hold On, I’m Comin’ had an accidental birth in the Stax studio after Hayes called out to Porter, who was taking a leak at the time, to hurry up and rejoin their songwriting session. Porter supposedly called out from the men’s room: “Hold on man, I’m comin'”… and a hit single was born.

Hold On! I’m A Coming – as it was retitled after radio stations found the original wording too suggestive – released in March 1966, was their first single to break into the Top 40 pop charts, and the first on which Moore took lead on the first verse.

Prater was given the response role – and second verse – at Hayes and Porter’s suggestion, the duo going on to share the vocals on most of their songs, though their hits dried up after leaving Stax in 1968.

Offstage the duo had a volatile relationship and, despite their energetic synergy onstage it was reported that they could hardly stand each other’s presence and often came to blows. In 1968 Prater shot his wife in an argument, causing Moore to vow never to speak to him again.

They parted ways in 1970 but reunited a few years later, largely because Moore needed the money to support his addictions to heroin and cocaine, and permanently parted ways in 1981, after which Prater hired another singer called Sam – Sam Daniels – to keep the duo going under the old name.