Soul man Sam Moore - one half of duo Sam and Dave - dies aged 89 while recovering from surgery

Soul giant, Sam Moore, has died aged 89. The surviving half of the 1960s duo Sam & Dave, the pair were known for such definitive hits of the era as Soul Man and Hold On, I’m Comin’.

Moore, who influenced musicians including Michael Jackson, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen, was inducted with Dave Prater into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. His publicist, Jeremy Westby, said Moore died on Friday in Coral Gables, Florida, US, while recovering from surgery.

Sam & Dave’s legendary status was so great, at the Memphis, Tennessee-based Stax Records, they were second only to the great Otis Redding. The duo transformed the “call and response” of gospel music into a frenzied stage show and recorded some of soul music’s most enduring hits, which also included You Don’t Know Like I Know, When Something is Wrong With My Baby and I Thank You.

Like many 1960s’ soul acts, Sam & Dave faded after the decade. But Soul Man hit the charts again in the late 1970s when the Blues Brothers, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, recorded it with many of the same musicians. Moore had mixed feelings about the hit becoming associated with the Saturday Night Live stars, remembering how young people believed it originated with the Blues Brothers.

In 2008, the movie Soul Men depicted a pair of aging, estranged singers who bore more than a little resemblance to Sam & Dave. Moore lost a lawsuit claiming the resemblance was too close. He also spent years suing Prater after Prater hired a substitute and toured as the New Sam & Dave. Prater died in a car crash in 1988.

Moore also pressed legal claims that the record industry had cheated him out of retirement benefits. Moore and other artists sued multiple record companies and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in 1993. Moore told The Associated Press in 1994 that he joined the legal effort after learning, despite his million-selling records, his pension amounted to just 2,285 dollars (£1,870) which he could take as a lump sum or in payments of 73 dollars (£60) monthly.

“Two thousand dollars for my lifetime?” Moore said then. “If you’re making a profit off of me, give me some too. Don’t give me cornbread and tell me it’s biscuits.”

Moore wrote the song Dole Man, modelled on Soul Man, for Republican Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in 1996. In 2017, he was among the few entertainers who performed for Republican President Donald Trump’s inaugural festivities.

Eight years earlier, Moore had objected when Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign used the song Hold On, I’m Comin’.

Moore was born on October 12 1935, in Miami and got his start singing in church. He and Prater performed in soul and R&B clubs in the 1950s, but did not meet until 1961 in Miami. The duo broke up in 1970 and neither had another major hit.

Moore is survive by his wife, Joyce, daughter, Michell, and two grandchildren.