Tau Moe (pronounced Mo-ay) was born August 13, 1908 in American Samoa to Savea Aupiu Moe and Talalupelele Lupe Tuitogama’atoe. The Moe family were of the Mormon faith. Some biographical details have variances from source to source. A 1947 item in the "Honolulu Star Bulletin" reported that Tau was sent alone to Hawaii for his education. Historian John W. Troutman, Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, stated that the entire family moved to Laie, Oahu, Hawaii in 1919, near the Mormon Laie Hawaii Temple. Troutman speculated that it was more likely the 1918 flu pandemic, rather than religion, that motivated the move.