Sam (left) and Dave Prater

HATE to be the hack who thinks a celebrity’s death means they have to tell everyone they once interviewed them.

But Sam Moore – one half of Sam and Dave, the 1960s soul duo – was so kind with his time to our newspaper when he rocked up here in the early 2000s that I couldn’t help but reflect on our meeting before a gig at the Jazz Café.

I could’ve talked to him all day, and it was the kind of chat that made you wish there was a time machine that could take you back to his heyday of hits like Soul Man, Hold On I’m Coming, When Something Is Wrong With My Baby and witness the raw, rasping power of those Stax soul concerts, where they would perform with Otis Redding and Booker T and the MGs.

He left us with the music at the weekend, aged 89.