The legacy of Sam Moore and Dave Prater can be heard and felt in the work of musicians such as Al Green, Michael Jackson.
According to NPR, the legacy of Sam Moore and Dave Prater can be heard and felt in the work of musicians such as Al Green, Michael Jackson. The pair was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
During the pair’s tenure at Stax Records, they were second only to the late, great Otis Redding, and, according to the “Stax: Soulsville USA” documentary, arguably their biggest song, “Soul Man” became a signifier for supporters of the Civil Rights movement, particularly the Black Power movement as depicted by Issac Hayes, another cornerstone of Stax following the untimely death of Redding.
Moore, however, had mixed feelings about the song’s resurgence because some young people believed the song was originally the property of “The Blues Brothers” film.
Moore did file a lawsuit over the depiction, but ultimately lost his court battle.
True to the film’s depiction of its purportedly fictional amalgamation of various soul groups, Moore sued Prater for a number of years after the latter hired a singer to take Moore’s place and began touring as the New Sam & Dave.
Prater would later tragically die in a car crash in Georgia in 1988, leaving Moore as the group’s sole surviving member.
Moore would later agitate for retirement benefits he alleged that the recording industry had cheated him out of, joining a lawsuit against several record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993.
According to a 1994 Associated Press interview, Moore recounted his reasoning for joining the lawsuit to the outlet.
“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said at the time. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”
Like most artists of his generation, Moore got his start in music by singing in church, where he learned to perform.
This popularity led to Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler sending them to the company’s Stax subsidiary in 1965 after they signed to Atlantic.
Moore is survived by his wife, Joyce, daughter Michell, and two grandchildren.
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Source: Black Enterprise
