Editing Sam & Dave (section)

==Early years==

Sam Moore and Dave Prater's early musical backgrounds involved listening to and singing gospel music in their homes and churches, and in Dave's case, also singing gospel in the choir in his church. Dave later sang with his older brother JT Prater in the gospel group The Sensational Hummingbirds, who recorded "Lord Teach Me" in the 1950s. Sam recorded "Nitey-Nite"/"Caveman Rock" in 1954 with the doo-wop group The Majestics, and later sang with the gospel groups The Gales and The Mellonaires. Moore and Prater listed [[Jackie Wilson]] and [[Sam Cooke]] as influences on their styles,<ref>''Sam & Dave – An Oral History'' Moore & Marsh, Avon Books 1998 pp 24–25,27–28</ref> and Moore was also influenced by [[Little Willie John]], whom he and Dave opened for often in the early 1960s.

Sam & Dave met working the gospel music circuit, and later in small clubs in Miami during amateur nights in 1961 according to Dave.<ref name="ReferenceA">Interview with Dave Prater and Dave Booth cover of 1984 ''I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down'' LP</ref> They sang together one night at the King of Hearts club, and started working together immediately thereafter, developing a live act featuring gospel-inspired call-and-response. Soul singer and record producer [[Steve Alaimo]] discovered them while performing during the same show with them at the King of Hearts nightclub in Miami and signed them to [[Marlin Records]].

After two singles in early 1962 were released on the local Marlin label owned by Miami's [[Henry Stone]], Stone helped sign them to [[Roulette Records]] in [[New York City]]. They released six 45s from 1962 to 1964 (two were re-releases of Marlin recordings) with Roulette, and one single on Stone and Alaimo's Alston Label. A few of the singles received regional airplay, but did not achieve national chart success. The songs, some of which were produced by [[Steve Alaimo]] and some of which were produced by [[Henry Glover]], were similar in many ways to R&B recordings by Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Little Willie John. Prater was the lead vocalist on most of these singles, with Moore singing harmony and alternate verses.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

In summer 1964, Stone introduced the duo to [[Atlantic Records]]' [[Jerry Wexler]], who signed them to Atlantic.<ref>''Soulville'', Bowman pp 66–69</ref> Wexler asked [[Memphis, Tennessee]]-based [[Stax Records]], which Atlantic distributed nationally, to work with Sam & Dave. Wexler wanted the Southern roots and gospel style of their live performances, so the pair were loaned to Stax to record, although they remained [[Atlantic Records]] artists. According to Wexler's autobiography ''Rhythms & Blues'', "Their live act was filled with animation, harmony and seeming goodwill. I put Sam in the sweet tradition of Sam Cooke or [[Solomon Burke]], while Dave had an ominous [[Four Tops]]' [[Levi Stubbs]]-sounding voice, the preacher promising hellfire."{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}