Sam Moore, the man behind "Soul Man" is gone at 89

This iconic jazz singer, behind such monstrously massive hits like "Hold On, I'm Coming" and "Soul Man", is gone at 89

He was one part of the soul duo Sam & Dave. The news was broken by a reporter named Roger Friedman. He stated that the cause of death was complications while recovering from surgery. Moore was born in 1935 in Miami, Florida. He started out his music career singing gospel music. An encounter with Dave Prater was like destiny. This chance encounter would prove beneficial for both of them. They formed Sam & Dave in 1961.

Four years later, they hit massive success with "You Don't Know Like I Do." After that, it was one successful song after another, including the hugely successful 1966 song "Hold On! I'm Comin'", the 1966 song "You Got Me Hummin'", 1967's "When Something is Wrong with My Baby", 1967's "Soul Man" (featured in The Blues Brothers films), 1968's "I Thank You".

Despite their popularity in the music world, both Moore and Prater had a bad relationship. They broke up in 1970 and each went their own way. Moore was due to release an album in 1971 produced by King Curtis, but unfortunately Curtis was murdered and the album was never released. Moore struggled with addiction to heroin, once admitting he would be "in my apartment putting a needle into my arm" when it came time to make music. The material of Sam & Dave got recognition later on thanks to The Blues Brothers, who used the song "Soul Man". Legendary Texas rockers ZZ Top even covered "I Thank You" on their 1979 Deguello album. These two instances helped reignite interest in Sam & Dave.

After the renewed interest in their music, the duo reunited, lasting until Dec. 31, 1981, their final performance. Their last and final split was not pleasant. In a 2002 interview with SFGate, Moore stated "When I left him 1981, I told him I wanted to get off [drugs] and then we could play some specials or something like that. But he was so hurt he went and got an impostor and called it Sam & Dave. Word got out that I was dead or had throat cancer or that I had retired. All kinds of stuff. So from that time until Dave died in 1988, I hadn't spoken to him. That's how the whole thing played out."

Moore was able to get himself clean and sober and enjoy a new lease on life. Sam & Dave were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, the same year he put his creative work on Bruce Springsteen's Human Touch album. 2002 saw the release of Plenty Good Lovin', the album he'd made with King Curtis years ago. It did incredibly well. Four years later, he released another album called Overnight Sensational, featuring collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Paul Rodgers, Steve Winwood and Billy Gibbons.