Sam & Dave

Part of the great stable of Stax Records artists who defined the joyous sound of 1960s soul, Sam and Dave laid down some of the finest R&B hits of the era and became one of the inspirations for the Blues Brothers film. Taught to sing in church choirs, Sam David Moore and Dave Prater met while performing gospel songs at amateur nights in Miami clubs, teamed up as a duo and were soon discovered by producer Steve Alaimo. Inspired by the likes of Sam Cooke, Solomon Burke and The Four Tops, they became known as Double Dynamite and worked with songwriter/producers Isaac Hayes and David Porter and backing band Booker T. and the M.G.'s, and scored their first big success with the track "You Don't Know Like I Know" in 1965. Follow up "Hold On, I'm Comin'" went on to sell over a million and was named song of the year by the Billboard R&B charts in 1966 before "Soul Man" reached Number 2 in the US and became the group's big anthem and a great standard of the genre. Album Soul Men (1967) made it to Number 2, and their charismatic and energetic shows across Europe earned them the reputation as one of the greatest live acts in the world.  They split in 1981 and Dave Prater died seven years later, on April 9, 1988 at the age of 50, after suffering drug problems. Sam Moore, who continued to perform as a solo artist, died on January 10, 2025, at the age of 89.