Showbiz411

The Miami Heat are the NBA champs at last. But another group from Miami will come out a winner from these NBA finals. Sam & Dave–the greatest singing duo in the history of R&B– were featured in an NBA clip that used their hit “I Thank You” from an Ed Sullivan show in 1969. In the new version, Big Heads of NBA all-stars were superimposed on Sam Moore, Dave Prater and their band. Ironically, Sam & Dave were from Miami and generated just as much heat. Now Sam Moore, who plays the City Winery July 17th in New York and is getting ready to record a new album, will have a nice pay day along with every one who was on that clip. Here’s a link to the NBA commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1FGelSyqEo. The original 1969 video –which shows what soul music is supposed to be from the real Soul Men (not Cedric the Entertainer, thank you)–is in our video player at the bottom of this page.

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.