Sam & Dave

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and this podcast episode will review the highlights of the career of the American soul and R&B duo also known as "Double Dynamite":  Sam & Dave!

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott.  The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John.  It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then. 
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Rock On!

Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm Jumpin' John, and this podcast episode will review the highlights of the career of the American soul and R&B duo also known as "Double Dynamite":  Sam & Dave!

Samuel Moore and David Prater were both raised in the South, and both men grew up listening to and singing gospel music in their homes and churches.  During the 1950's, they each performed in soul and R&B clubs.  Dave also sang in the gospel group The Sensational Hummingbirds.  In 1954 Sam recorded with The Majestics, a doo-wop group, and later with gospel groups The Gales and The Mellonaires.  In 1961 the two men met at the King of Hearts club in Miami, Florida during an amateur-night singing contest.  The singers joined forces to became a duo and soon became a popular local Miami act.  Their live act featured gospel-inspired call-and-response, and their sound blended Moore’s soaring tenor voice with Prater’s raspy baritone.  They cited Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke as influences, as well as Little Willie John, who they frequently opened for in the early 1960's.

Steve Alaimo performed with Sam & Dave at Miami’s King of Hearts nightclub.  Also a record producer, Alaimo signed the duo to Marlin Records.  Then in early 1962 Marlin's owner, Henry Stone, assisted in signing the duo to New York City's Roulette Records.  From 1962 to 1964 Sam & Dave recorded six singles with Roulette.  Prater sang lead vocals on the majority of these songs, with Moore providing harmony and alternate verses.  A few of the singles received regional air play, but did not chart nationally.

In the summer of 1964, Henry Stone introduced the duo to producer Jerry Wexler, who signed them to Atlantic Records.  Wexler wanted to capture the Southern roots and gospel style of their live performances, so the pair were loaned to Atlantic's Stax subsidiary to record, although they remained Atlantic Records artists.

When Sam & Dave arrived at Stax in Memphis, Tennessee they worked with producer and engineer Jim Stewart.  Stax session guitarist Steve Cropper, would write or co-write four of their first eight Stax recordings.  The duo then moved to relative newcomer writers and producers Isaac Hayes and David Porter.  Hayes and Porter wrote and produced the duo's biggest hits, although they did not receive production credits until the Soul Men LP and singles.  Moore and Prater shifted their recording style to a more live, more energetic gospel, call-and-response feel and beat driven soul style the group is known for today.  Sam & Dave's Stax records also benefited from the talented musicians which included the Stax house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, and the Stax horn section, The Mar-Keys.  The creative engineering and mixing by Stax founder Jim Stewart, greatly enhanced the duo's recordings.  In the future, Rock and Roll Flashback will air two related podcasts:  one detailing the career of Isaac Hayes and the other covering the influence of Stax Studio.

While their first two Stax singles failed to chart, the third, the Hayes/Porter composition, "You Don't Know Like I Know" reached #7 on the R&B chart in 1966.  This was their first of 10 consecutive top-20 R&B chart hits over three years, and 14 R&B chart appearances during their career.  Then in March 1966 the single "Hold On, I'm Comin'" was released.  By June it had climbed to #1 on the R&B chart, and it spent 20 weeks on the R&B singles chart.  "Hold On, I'm Comin'" was named the #1 song of the year for 1966 by the Billboard R&B charts.  It was also Sam & Dave's first single to break into the Pop chart, peaking at #21.  In 1988, Rolling Stone named it one of the best 100 songs of the past 25 years.  "Hold On, I'm Comin'" has since been recorded by dozens of other artists and received a belated RIAA gold record for one million sales in 1995, 29 years after its release.  The LP Hold On, I'm Comin' reached #1 for 19 weeks on the R&B albums charts in 1966.

Here is Sam & Dave's version of "Hold On, I'm Comin'":

At the suggestion of Hayes and Porter, "Hold On, I'm Comin'" was also the first recording on which Moore took lead on the first verse and Prater was given the response role and second verse.  The duo would use this format of singing dual leads on many of their songs.  Interestingly, Sam & Dave's version of "Hold On, I'm Comin'" was recently listed on Barack Obama's 2026 Summer Playlist! 

To take advantage of Sam & Dave's sudden chart success, Roulette quickly released the album Sam & Dave in 1966 as well, a collection of the A & B sides of their six Roulette 45's, which did not chart.

Over the next three years Sam & Dave would become the most successful soul combo, and their call-and-response albums introduced the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music.  

The duo charted in late 1966 with two more R&B Top 10 hits:  "Said I Wasn't Gonna Tell Nobody" and "You Got Me Hummin".  Sam & Dave's next huge R&B hit was "When Something is Wrong With My Baby".  A ballad single, it was released in January 1967.  This was the only Sam & Dave hit where Dave sang the first verse solo.  Their other hits started with Sam & Dave together or Sam singing the first verse. "When Something is Wrong With My Baby" reached #2 R&B and #42 Pop.  These three singles, along with other tracks, were compiled on the Double Dynamite Album.  Double Dynamite peaked at #7 R&B and #118 Pop.

Sam & Dave's biggest hit and best-remembered song was released in August 1967.  Written by Hayes and Porter, the "Soul Man" single climbed to #1 R&B, #2 Pop, and, according to Cashbox magazine, it was the #1 song in the U.S. Pop charts in November 1967.  It was their first gold record.  Sam & Dave won the Grammy Award in 1967 for "Best Performance – Rhythm & Blues Group" for "Soul Man".  "Soul Man" was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.  The song helped name the emerging music genre as "Soul Music".  It has been recognized as one of the best or most influential songs of 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Rolling Stone, and RIAA Songs of the Century.  "Soul Man" was used as the soundtrack and title for a 1986 film, a 2008 film Soul Men, and a 1997–1998 television series.  In 2004 the song was ranked #458 in Rolling Stone's list of the "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".   In 2019, "Soul Man" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".  

Here is Sam & Dave's version of "Soul Man":

The Soul Men LP was released in October 1967.  It reached #5 on the R&B album chart and #68 on the Billboard 200 album chart.  Due to the long run by "Soul Man" of 15 weeks on the Pop singles charts, no other singles were released from that album in the U.S.

In 1968, Sam & Dave again charted with the gospel-inspired "I Thank You" backed with "Wrap It Up".   On the U.S. Billboard charts, "I Thank You" climbed to #4 R&B and #9 Pop.  Due to the end of the distribution agreement between Stax and Atlantic Records in May 1968, "I Thank You" was Sam & Dave's final single on Stax.  Although they continued to work at Stax with Hayes and Porter, as of May 1968 the duo's work was released on Atlantic Records. "I Thank You" sold over one million copies, earning it gold record status.

Sam & Dave's first 1968 single for Atlantic was "You Don't Know What You Mean to Me", written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper.  It reached #19 R&B and #48 Pop.  They also released "Can't You Find Another Way (of Doing It)", reaching #20 R&B and #54 Pop, but it was not included in the I Thank You LP.  Their final single of 1968, "Everybody Got to Believe in Somebody", charted in the lower levels of the pop charts and ended Sam & Dave's streak at 10 straight R&B top 20 singles.  The I Thank You album peaked at #38 on the R&B charts, and was the only LP of their Stax recordings not to chart on the Pop LP charts. 

In March 1967, Sam & Dave were co-headliners for the Stax/Volt Revue in Europe.  The tour included Booker T & the MGs, The Mar-Keys, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Arthur Conley and headliner Otis Redding.  It was the duo's first trip to Europe, and on many nights Sam & Dave reportedly stole the show.  After the tour, Sam & Dave worked as headliners in the U.S. and in Europe off and on from Fall 1967 through 1970.  They averaged 280 shows per year from 1967 through 1969, and in 1967 they only took ten days off.  Other high points included headlining the Montreal World's Fair in 1967, performing at the tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. at Madison Square Garden in June 1968, and being the first black soul group to headline the Fillmore East in December 1968.  Sam & Dave also performed on U.S. and European television, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, American Bandstand, and The Mike Douglas Show.

In January 1969 Atlantic released The Best of Sam & Dave LP.  It contained all of their Stax A-sides except "A Place Nobody Can Find" and several B-sides.  The album peaked at # 24 on the R&B LP charts and #89 on the Billboard LP chart.  Their first single of the year, "Soul Sister, Brown Sugar", returned Sam & Dave to the R&B top 20, and was a #15 hit in the UK.  The follow-up, "Born Again", was the last single Sam & Dave recorded at Stax.  After that Atlantic's Jerry Wexler and co-producer Tom Dowd tried producing Sam & Dave in New York City, but the results were disappointing.  

Prater and Moore may have communicated on-stage, but behind the scenes, it was reported that the duo could hardly stand each other’s presence.  They came to greatly dislike each other, seldom spoke, and had a volatile relationship offstage.  The underlying tension finally caused Sam & Dave to split up and part ways in June 1970.  However, neither of them was able to be commercially successful as a solo act, and they moved past their personal differences and reunited in August 1971.  Sam & Dave recorded a few more minor songs with Atlantic, and by 1972 their contract expired.  Despite their inability to attract a major label after Atlantic, there was still demand for public performances, especially in Europe.  They toured off and on through Spring 1973 and returned to the studio in 1974 and 1975.  They recorded an album titled Back at Cha for United Artists, but it didn't chart.  

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, on Saturday Night Live.  

[play excerpt from The Blues Brothers version of "Soul Man"]

The comic actors' 1979 top-40 cover of "Soul Man" raised awareness of Sam & Dave's musical legacy.  It also was fortuitous that Ackroyd and Belushi recruited guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn from Booker T. & the M.G.'s and Stax.  Those two joined the Blues Brothers band.  There was also a tribute to Sam & Dave in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.  Dan Aykroyd convinced The Blues Brothers movie director, John Landis, to include the Jake and Elwood Blues characters listening to "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and "Soothe Me" while riding in their Bluesmobile.

Also in 1979, Sam & Dave opened shows for The Clash on their U.S. tour.  In 1980, the duo performed in Paul Simon's film One Trick Pony and on an episode of Saturday Night Live.  In 1980, they also were featured in a U.S. tour opening for the 1950's revival band Sha Na Na.  

Sam & Dave last performed together on New Year's Eve, 1981, at the Old Waldorf in San Francisco.  According to Moore, when they walked off stage it was the last time they spoke to each other.  For six years, starting in October 1982, Prater started touring under the "Sam & Dave" name or as "The New Sam & Dave Revue" with Sam Daniels.  Sadly, David Prater was killed in a car crash on April 9th, 1988.  Sam Moore continued with a solo career as a performer into the 21st century.  Moore would continue to perform sporadically, most notably on Bruce Springsteen's 1992 album Human Touch.  In 2006 Sam issued a solo album titled Overnight Sensational.  Sam Moore died at the age of 89 on January 10th, 2025.

Sam & Dave are legendary for their energetic, infectious live performances during the late 1960's, which complemented the overall high quality of their studio work.  With nicknames like "Double Dynamite", "The Sultans of Sweat", and "The Dynamic Duo", Sam & Dave are considered one of the greatest live acts of the 1960's.  Many subsequent musicians have named them as an influence, including Bruce Springsteen, Al Green, Tom Petty, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson, Steve Van Zandt, Elvis Costello, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Joel, Steve Winwood, and of course The Blues Brothers.  Except for Aretha Franklin, no soul act enjoyed more consistent R&B chart success during Sam & Dave’s four Stax years, with 10 consecutive top 20 singles and three consecutive top 10 LPs.  Sam & Dave's crossover charts appeal also helped to pave the way for the acceptance of soul music by white pop audiences.  Their song "Soul Man" was one of the first songs by a black group to top the pop charts using the word "soul", helping define the genre.

Here are a few of their numerous awards and recognitions.  Sam & Dave were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2007, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015, and the Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2018.  They received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.  Rolling Stone ranked Sam & Dave #14 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. 

Thank you for listening to another episode on Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts!  I will conclude this podcast with Sam & Dave's version of "I Thank You".  So fellow travelers, may your path be smooth and your music always be rockin'!  And until next time...Rock On!