Sam & Dave

Sam Moore and Dave Prater were the definitive male ’60s soul duo. Moore (born in Miami in 1935) and Prater (born in Georgia in 1937) both started out singing gospel. They joined forces in 1961 to pursue their shared love of R&B, but gospel heavily influenced their approach, which was more like a musical conversation than traditional harmony or duet. Starting in 1962, they recorded a long string of unsuccessful singles for Roulette, but they hit their stride when they started working with the now-legendary Stax label in 1965, scoring their first hit with “You Don’t Know Like I Know” that year. Stax’s stellar team of writers and musicians helped the duo define their sound, as heard on classics like “Hold On, I’m Comin’”, “When Something Is Wrong With My Baby”, “Soul Man” and “I Thank You”. The duo hung it up in 1981, leaving a lofty legacy.