I got a phone call a year ago this morning that still shakes me.
My dear friend of 25 years, R&B great Sam Moore, had died unexpectedly after surgery. He was 89, and had been married to his devoted, famous manager wife, Joyce, for more than 40 years.
Sam, I can’t believe a year has gone by and I have not heard your voice on the phone, or hung out backstage at some TV show or live concert where your sweet laugh filled the room. (Sam could crack laughing like no one else, especially if he thought he was getting away with something and he knew you caught on.)
With Dave Prater — who had a lot of problems including once shooting his wife and unsuccessfully trying to replace Sam — our friend had an unparalleled collection of classic hits in the mid 60s including “Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” “I Thank You,” “When Something is Wrong with My Baby,” and so on. The minute they hit the airwaves, everyone is up and dancing.
Trouble with drugs knocked him out of the 70s. But John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd reignited him with their loving tribute as “The Blues Brothers.” Sam was unstoppable from then on, playing for all the living presidents, at the White House, the Kennedy Center, and around the world. Eddie Murphy chose him as the entertainment for his Mark Twain Award. Garth Brooks chartered planes to sing with him.
Bruce Springsteen declared him the world’s greatest soul singer. Sam’s voice had so much modulation as a sweet sweet tenor, he never lost a note. He could sing the phone book and you’d want to hear more. In 2006, all his celebrity music pals like Bruce, Sting, Bon Jovi joined him a terrific album called “Overnight Sensational.” He was nominated for a Grammy (he had one already from the 60s) and continued to sell out gigs.
Chris Hegedus, DA Pennebaker and I featured him in our 2002 film, “Only the Strong Survive,” and everyone just fell in love. Sam and Joyce became family and vice versa. We laughed all the time as Sam told us stories about the good ol’, bad ol’ days. He never where every body was buried, especially at Atlantic and Stax Records.
“Rajh,” he’d say to me in an exaggerated Southern drawl, “you don’t know!”
Sam’s had so many honors like keys to city and what not. But listen to this. The Celebrate Freedom Foundation is honoring his memory by naming an MQ-5B Hunter Drone for him for STEM Education.
What does that mean? Sam himself never droned on. He was to the point. But the military guys always loved him, and vice versa, so why not? A lovely tribute.
According to their press release: “The Sam Moore MQ-5B Hunter will serve as a centerpiece of CFF’s mission to inspire the next generation. This aircraft will travel to schools across the Southeast, providing students with hands-on exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and highlighting the diverse career paths available in aviation and the military…
“Sam Moore was not just a voice of a generation; he was a tireless advocate for our nation’s heroes and our youth,” said a spokesperson for the Celebrate Freedom Foundation. “Naming this aircraft after Sam allows us to carry his spirit of service and inspiration into every classroom we visit.”
How cool is that? When the drone flies around I hope it’s playing “Soul Man” really loud.
I’m listening to Sam’s albums (also “Plenty Good Lovin'” from 1972 with Aretha on keyboards, produced by King Curtis) and the Sam & Dave songs all day today. I’m thinking about Sam stealing the show at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary with Bruce and Darlene Love, or knocking out the audience at the Ahmet Ertegun memorial show in London. The rock stars flocked to him, the country stars, too. Every person we ran into at a hotel knew him, loved him, couldn’t believe they were meeting the Original Soul Man.
Life is moving too fast, folks.
