MIAMI — Sam Moore, the towering tenor of the Sam & Dave soul music duo whose mid-1960s hits “Soul Man” and “Hold On, I’m Comin’ “ soundtracked the lives of countless fans and then heard in film and TV for generations, died Friday at a Miami hospital, his wife, Joyce Moore, said.
Moore, who was born in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood on Oct. 12, 1935, was 89.
His career took him from public grade schools and churches in Miami where he’d forge the gospel soul into his voice to please his mother, Louise Robinson, to a small club stage in Liberty City where he discovered the “& Dave” musical partner that would forever be part of his name.
International fame took Moore around the world for decades, but he came home again about 10 years ago to inspire the next generation of Miami kids at his old schools and at Florida International University through his gifts of music and his time.
Moore had surgery for a spinal compression on Tuesday, three days earlier. He was recovering and was to start rehabilitation Friday morning, his wife said. But as the rehab center called Joyce about Sam’s appointment, she had to interrupt the caller to break the news from a Coral Gables hospital room. Moore wasn’t going to rehab this day.