Sam and Dave

Sam & Dave are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, and are Grammy Award and multiple gold record award winning artists.

According to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Sam & Dave were the most successful soul duo and brought the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records.

Recorded primarily at Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1965 through 1968, these included “Soul Man”, “Hold On, I’m Comin'”, “YouDon’t Know like I Know”, “I Thank You”, “and When Something is wrong with My Baby”, “Wrap It Up”, and many other Southern Soul classics.

Except for Aretha Franklin, no soul act during Sam & Dave’s Stax years (1965–1968) had more consistent R&B chart success, including 10 consecutive top 20 singles and 3 consecutive top 10 LPs.

They were an influence on many future musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Al Green, Tom Petty, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Elvis Costello, The Jam, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Joel and Steve Winwood.

The Blues Brothers, who helped create a resurgence of popularity for soul, R&B, and blues in the 1980s, were influenced by Sam & Dave – their biggest hit was a cover of “Soul Man”, and their act and stage show had many similarities to the duo.

Sam & Dave met working the gospel music circuit, and later in small clubs in Miami during amateur nights in 1961 according to Dave.

They sang together one night at the King of Hearts club and started working together immediately thereafter, developing a live act featuring gospel-inspired call-and-response.

Soul singer and record producer Steve Alaimo discovered them while performing on the same show with them at the King of Hearts nightclub in Miami and signed them to Marlin Records.

In 1979, Sam & Dave enjoyed a significant resurgence of interest as a result of Dan Aykroyd’s and John Belushi’s sketch characters The Blues Brothers and the comic actors’ 1979 top 40 cover of “Soul Man.” Moore stated they were offered an opportunity to perform onstage with Belushi and Aykroyd on SNL but turned it down when Belushi said Sam & Dave had to perform the intro, then the Blues Brothers would take over.

The Blues Brothers’ personas and stage act were influenced by Sam & Dave, according to an April 1988 interview with Aykroyd in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Aykroyd saw Sam & Dave as a teenager at the Montreal Expo in 1967 and said they were one of his biggest influences.

Aykroyd got director John Landis to include the Jake and Elwood Blues characters listening to “Hold On, I’m Comin'” and “Soothe Me” while riding in the Bluesmobile in the 1980 cult film The Blues Brothers as a tribute to Sam & Dave.

Dave Prater was killed in an auto accident on April 9, 1988.

Sam Moore has continued to perform as a solo artist.

He has also made several appearances in movies, including The Blues Brothers 2000 and Only the Strong Survive.