Legendary Isaac Hayes, icon of soul and funk and innovative composer whose trailblazing work spanned decades, from his Grammy Award and Academy Award winning “Theme from Shaft” to his resurgence on “South Park” as Chef has died at 65.
Isaac Hayes, the singer and songwriter whose luxurious, strutting funk arrangements in songs like “Theme From ‘Shaft’ ” defined the glories and excesses of soul music in the early 1970s, died on Sunday in East Memphis, Tenn. He was 65.
The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said that Mr. Hayes’s wife, Adjowa, found him collapsed near a treadmill at their home in Cordova, an eastern suburb of Memphis, and he was pronounced dead an hour later. The cause of death was not known.
With his lascivious bass-baritone and flamboyant wardrobe, Mr. Hayes developed a musical persona that was an embodiment of the hyper-masculine, street-savvy characters of the so-called blaxploitation films of the era. In his theme song to Gordon Parks’s “Shaft” from 1971, the title character is summed up in a line that has become a classic of kitsch: “Who’s a black private dick/Who’s a sex machine to all the chicks?”
(Furthermore: “He’s a complicated man/But no one understands him but his woman.”)
The “Shaft” theme won an Academy Award and has become one of his best-known songs. But Mr. Hayes’s career stretched far beyond soundtracks. For much of the 1960s and into the ’70s he was one of the principal songwriters and performers for Stax Records, the trailblazing Memphis R&B label, and in the 1990s he revived his career by providing the voice for the amorous and wise Chef on the cable television show “South Park.”
Photo credit: 60 Cycle Media
Isaac Hayes was born Aug. 20, 1942, in a tin shack in rural Covington, Tenn., to a mother who died early and a father who left home. He was raised largely by his grandparents, and worked in cotton fields while going to school. He began playing in local bands, and by early 1964, when he was 21, he was working as a backup musician for Stax. His first session was with Otis Redding.
Soon he began writing songs with David Porter, and their music — numbers like “Soul Man” and Hold On, I’m Comin’ ” for Sam and Dave, and “B-A-B-Y” for Carla Thomas — came to embody the Stax aesthetic. It was tight, catchy pop, but full of sweat and grit, a proudly unpolished Southern alternative to Motown.
Source: Isaac Hayes, Singer-Songwriter Who Defined ’70s Soul, Is Dead at 65
Isaac Hayes in 1999 (Photo credit: Julie Kremen/Tunes.com Inc.)
Hayes also pursued an acting career, with cameos in several movies including Escape from New York, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and the blaxploitation spoof I’m Gonna Git You Sucka.
In the 1990s Hayes reached a new generation as Chef. Two years ago, however, he left the show after an episode that he felt made fun of the Scientology movement, of which he was a member.
“There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins,” he said.
There was subsequent dispute about the origin of the statement. Hayes suffered a stroke in early 2006, and it has been reported that this was the reason he left the show.
An appearance on a TV talk show in April this year appeared to suggest that Hayes was suffering from the side-effects of a stroke.
Isaac Hayes performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an inductee in 2002. (Photo credit: G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times)
However, he continued to lead an active life, spearheading a campaign for the Memphis Heart Clinic which was due to start on Friday.
He established the Isaac Hayes Foundation in 1993 to do philanthropic work in Africa, and was subsequently crowned king of a small community in Ghana.
A businessman who owned two restaurants and wrote a best-selling cook book, Hayes was married four times and had 12 children.
Source: Isaac Hayes, soul singer who defined black urban cool, dies at 65
Top Photo: Issac Hayes, 1970s (Photo credit: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)
See also:
Isaac Hayes performing “Theme from Shaft”
Isaac Hayes - Shaft - live performance 1973
“Shaft” (1971) opening scene
Isaac Hayes Performing Burt Bucharach’s & Hal David’s “Walk On By (Single Version)” at Music Scene 1969. Dionne Warwick Cover
Isaac Hayes -” The look of Love” (live) 1973
Isaac Hayes, Music Legend (1942-2008) - Video Tribute
