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Isaac Hayes

 
Who2 Profiles:

Isaac Hayes, Singer / Actor

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  • Born: 20 August 1942
  • Birthplace: Covington, Tennessee
  • Died: 10 August 2008 (stroke)
  • Best Known As: The singer of "Theme from Shaft"

The "Black Moses" of American R&B music, Isaac Hayes was known best for his Oscar-winning 1971 hit, "Theme from Shaft." As a session musician, arranger and producer for Stax Records in the 1960s, Hayes helped shape the "Memphis Sound" of rhythm and blues with artists like Otis Redding and Sam & Dave. Then he broke through as a solo act with the album Hot Buttered Soul (1969). A collection of long songs with lush arrangements and pillow-talk, the album is now considered a key forerunner to rap. Hayes became a bigger star with his soundtrack to the 1971 black action film Shaft. "Theme from Shaft" won a Grammy, and Hayes performed the tune draped in gold chains at the 1972 Oscar ceremony, where he won the Academy Award for best song. Hayes released the albums Black Moses (1971) and Joy (1973) and began a long career as a sometime actor and walk-on star in movies and on TV. His films include Escape From New York (1981, starring Kurt Russell), Reindeer Games (2000, starring Ben Affleck) and Hustle & Flow (2005, starring Terrence Howard). Hayes's career took a completely different turn in 1997 when he joined the cast of the animated series South Park as the straight-talking, lady-loving Chef. He quit the role after the show made fun of Scientology, his religion, in 2006. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

On the day of his death, Hayes was found unconscious by his family near a running treadmill, apparently after a workout. His doctor listed "stroke" as the cause of death on his death certificate. Hayes had suffered a previous stroke in 2006 and was being treated for high blood pressure.

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Gale Contemporary Black Biography:

Isaac Hayes

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singer; composer

Personal Information

Born August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; son of Isaac and Eula Hayes; married and divorced; eight children.
Education: Graduated from high school in Memphis.

Career

Soul music vocalist; worked in meat packing plant; performed in Memphis clubs, early 1960s; staff musician and songwriter, Stax Records, 1964-67; co-composer of hits "Soul Man" and "Hold On I'm Comin'" for Sam and Dave; released debut album Presenting Isaac Hayes, 1967; released breakthrough album Hot Buttered Soul, 1969; signed with ABC, 1975; signed with Polydor, 1977; numerous film and television appearances, 1976-; released two albums on Point Blank label, 1995; voice of Chef on television's South Park, 1996-.

Life's Work

For many years, Isaac Hayes was best remembered for the theme song from Shaft, an African American-oriented police thriller from 1971 for which he composed the music. Music fans and observers also recalled his outlandish stage shows of the 1970s, in which the bald singer appeared amidst a phalanx of musicians and dancers in a cape, a fur-and-leather shirt, masses of gold jewelry, and black tights. His career had never regained the momentum it had in the 1969-71 period, when Hayes was a top seller for the Stax label. Hayes, however, had always remained an instantly identifiable public figure and, by the late 1990s, it had become clear how greatly he had influenced subsequent generations of African American musicians.

From the beginning of his career, Hayes was an innovator. In contrast with the gospel-derived, highly-charged vocals of his soul compatriots at Stax, Hayes pioneered a cool vocal style; his relaxed baritone was conversational and romantic. The pillow talk of the 1970s and 1980s megastar Barry White was directly inspired by Hayes's style. The elaborate production and insistent four-beat of recordings such as "Shaft" prefigured the disco movement; Hayes himself had some success during the disco era. Years before the word "rap" had come to denote a musical style, Hayes was referring to the lengthy spoken interludes in his songs and performances as rapping. Modern hip-hop musicians testified to the depth of Hayes's influence by repeatedly sampling his recordings.

Isaac Hayes was born into poverty on a sharecropper's farm on August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee. His mother died when he was a baby and he was raised by grandparents, who moved to Memphis when Isaac was seven. Hayes received little formal education and was forced to take jobs picking cotton, pumping gas, and helping out at a junkyard in order to survive. He persevered, however, and eventually graduated from high school. As a high school student, Hayes cultivated an interest in music that had begun when his grandparents encouraged him to sing in church at age five and had grown through the influence of another family member: "I can remember my aunt had a juke joint, and anybody who walked in the door could sing as good as B. B. King, Sonny Boy Williamson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, or Howlin' Wolf," Hayes told Interview magazine. By sheer force of will, he learned to play the piano.

While working as a meat packer, Hayes fronted several bands that played in Memphis clubs in the early 1960s. Music became an integral part of his life in 1964 when he met saxophonist Floyd Newman, a member of the Mar-Keys and an early mainstay of Memphis's soul-music record label, Stax. Hayes was asked to replace the legendary Stax keyboardist Booker T. Jones on a session date, and was soon finding regular work as a Stax session musician. Many of Otis Redding's classic soul recordings for Stax featured Hayes at the keyboard.

Hayes also began to work with a lyricist friend, David Porter, and the pair had several spectacular successes as a songwriting team, most notably with the two big hits scored by the duo of Sam & Dave, "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I'm Coming." In 1967, Stax vice-president Al Bell invited Hayes to cut an album. The album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, sold poorly, but Hayes continued to refine his skills. When he received another opportunity to record an album in 1969, he was ready.

The record that launched Isaac Hayes's career, Hot Buttered Soul, was a groundbreaking work that represented Stax's effort to respond to the musical experimentation pioneered by Motown during the late 1960s. Featuring elaborate arrangements with strings and backup vocals, the entire album contained only four songs, one of them an 18-minute, 40-second version of Jimmy Webb's country-pop hit, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix." Hayes extended songs through the use of introductory monologues, which he called "rapping," and by playing long instrumental interludes on the organ. The album sold over one million copies and reached number eight on the pop charts. It also marked Stax's most successful effort to cross over to popular audiences.

Hot Buttered Soul launched Hayes's solo career and he became one of the top-grossing concert acts of the early 1970s. Although he became extremely wealthy, he squandered most of his money and was forced to declare bankruptcy on two occasions. The speech-song mixtures from Hot Buttered Soul appeared in his famous Shaft theme, which featured a dialogue between Hayes and his ever-present female backup singers, and offered an unusual arrangement that included a flute and a rhythmic use of wah-wah guitar. The recording of "Shaft" reached number one on the pop charts and earned Hayes both Academy and Grammy awards. He also became the first African American composer to be honored with an Academy award.

Even as his financial troubles mounted and the careers of his fellow Stax artists declined, Hayes forged ahead during the middle and late 1970s. Signing with the ABC label in 1975 and with Polydor in 1977, Hayes made a successful foray into disco with the 1976 album Juicy Fruit and its single "Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak)." He also recorded duet albums with Dionne Warwick (A Man and a Woman, 1977) and fellow proto-rapper Millie Jackson (Royal Rappin's, 1979). Hayes also realized his long-held dream of becoming an actor, appearing on the television program The Rockford Files and taking roles in several films, including the science-fiction thriller Escape from New York and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, the Keenen Ivory Wayans parody of the "blaxploitation" film genre.

After dropping out of sight for a time in the 1980s, Hayes re- emerged with the albums U-Turn in 1986 and Love Attack in 1988, both on the Columbia label. He released two albums for the Point Blank label in 1995, Branded and the instrumental Raw and Refined, which Interview writer Dimitri Ehrlich remarked "find him burrowing into jazzy, syncopated grooves, gracefully reveling in heightened realms of musicality and mojo." Interview estimated that Hayes's recordings had been sampled--digitally quoted--over 50 times by rappers and producers in 1993 alone, and the "gangsta" rap image plainly owed much to Hayes's grandiose stage productions. Hayes continued his acting career and, in the late 1990s, gained considerable popularity as the voice of Chef, the school-canteen worker on the outrageous animated television series South Park. He also hosted a soul music radio program on New York's KISS-FM radio station. A figure nearly universally recognized since his Shaft days, Isaac Hayes remained in the limelight.

Awards

Academy award, Best Song from a Motion Picture, and Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Arrangement and Best Original Score (all for music from Shaft), 1971; Grammy award, Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for Black Moses), 1972; two Grammy award nominations, 1978.

Works

Selective Discography

  • Presenting Isaac Hayes, Stax, 1967.
  • Hot Buttered Soul, Stax, 1969.
  • Isaac Hayes Movement, Stax, 1970.
  • Shaft (soundtrack), Stax, 1971.
  • Black Moses, Stax, 1971.
  • Tough Guys (soundtrack), Stax, 1973.
  • Chocolate Chip, ABC, 1975.
  • Juicy Fruit, ABC, 1976.
  • A Man and a Woman (with Dionne Warwick), Polydor, 1977.
  • Royal Rappin's (with Millie Jackson), Polydor, 1979.
  • Enterprise--His Greatest Hits, Stax, 1980.
  • U-Turn, Polydor, 1986.
  • Branded, Point Blank, 1995.
  • Raw and Refined, Point Blank, 1995.

Further Reading

Books

  • Contemporary Musicians, volume 10, Gale, 1994.
  • Guralnick, Peter, Sweet Soul Music, Harper & Row, 1986.
  • Romanowski, Patricia, and Holly George-Warren, eds., The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Fireside, 1995.
  • Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock & Soul, St. Martin's, 1989.
Periodicals
  • Billboard, March 25, 1995, p. 23.
  • Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, p. 59.
  • Interview, May 1995, p. 24.
  • Newsweek, March 23, 1998; p. 60.
  • People, July 8, 1996, p. 101.

— James M. Manheim

AMG AllMovie Guide:

Isaac Hayes

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Biography

A major figure in American soul music, Isaac Hayes also enjoyed a long and memorable career as an actor and film composer. His score for the motion picture Shaft made him the first African-American to win an Academy Award for music, and was one of the first examples of a pop-based film score that developed a life of its own in the marketplace.

Isaac Hayes was born in Covington, TN, on August 20, 1942. Born to a family of sharecroppers, Hayes was raised by his grandparents, and developed an interest in music early in life, joining the church choir at the age of five. By the time he was a teenager, Hayes had also learned how to play piano, organ, and saxophone, but he was forced to drop out of school after the family had moved to Memphis when his grandfather developed a disability. Hayes began performing with a variety of local R&B groups in Memphis, including the Teen Tones, Sir Calvin and His Swinging Cats, and Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads, as well as working a variety of day jobs. In time, Hayes began attending night school, and received his high-school diploma at the age of 21.

In 1962, Hayes cut his first record for a local label, and in 1964 he'd worked his way up to playing keyboards with the house band at Stax Records, just then establishing themselves as one of the South's premier soul music labels. At Stax, Hayes began writing songs with David Porter, and together they penned a long string of hits for Sam & Dave, including "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Coming," and "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby," as well as hits for Johnnie Taylor and Carla Thomas. Having established himself as a songwriter, Hayes began to step into the spotlight as a recording artist in 1967 with his first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes. While the album was reasonably well received, it was Hayes' second effort, Hot Buttered Soul, that established him as a unique talent in soul music, with its lush, lengthy, and languidly funky interpretations of such songs as "Walk on By" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" (the latter clocking in at an epic 18 minutes).

Several more successful albums followed, and in 1970, Hayes was approached to write his first film score by, of all people, Norman Mailer; Mailer went through a brief fling as an experimental filmmaker, and he hired Hayes to provide music for his third cinéma vérité feature, Maidstone.

In 1971, Hayes would write his second film score, which would make a much greater impact. Shaft, directed by famed photojournalist Gordon Parks, was a gritty tale of a tough private eye squaring off against both the cops and the mob in New York City, but with a primarily African-American cast, an unusual thing in 1971, and Hayes' score, which blended streetwise grooves with a brassy orchestral backing, became an instant sensation. Shaft's soundtrack album, as well as the single "Theme From Shaft," were major chart successes, and Hayes won an Academy Award for Best Musical Score.

While Hayes was certainly proud of his achievements, at one point he'd shown an interest in playing the lead in Shaft as well as writing the music, and after displaying an estimable amount of screen charisma in several concert films (including Wattstax and Save the Children), he was cast alongside Fred Williamson and Lino Ventura in the Italian blaxploitation-style drama Uomini Duri (released in America as Three Tough Guys); Hayes also wrote music for the film. Later that same year, Hayes scored a solo starring role in Truck Turner, but just as his acting career began taking hold, the bottom began to fall out of the blaxploitation market, and Hayes went back to making music, not scoring another film role until Escape From New York in 1981.

In the mid-'80s, Hayes returned to acting, and appeared in no fewer than 25 theatrical and television features between 1986 and 1996; most were low-budget genre fare, but several more notable films appeared on his resumé, including the blaxploitation parody/tribute I'm Gonna Git You Sucka!, Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Mario Van Peebles' African-American Western Posse, and Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored, a evocative look at life in a small Southern town in the 1940s.

Hayes' acting career got an unexpected boost in 1997, when he was asked to provide the voice of Chef on the animated television series South Park. Originally intended to appear in one episode, Chef went over so well that he became a regular character on the series, and remained with the show for nine years. Hayes also continued to land a number of higher profile film roles in films like Reindeer Games, the 2000 remake of Shaft, and the independent venture Hustle & Flow, for which he was nominated for a Screen Actors' Guild Award. When not busy with acting projects, Hayes continued to play concerts and record new material; he was also a literacy activist, a supporter of children's charities around the world, and operated a pair of successful restaurants in Chicago and Memphis. Hayes died on August 10, 2008. ~ Rovi
Gale Musician Profiles:

Isaac Hayes

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Singer, songwriter

Isaac Hayes saw success early in his musical career as a session musician and songwriter at legendary Stax-Volt Records, the birthplace of commercial Memphis soul music. With David Porter, Hayes authored such hits as "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I’m Coming" for the famed R&B duo Sam & Dave, as well as a host of others. Though he struggled in his initial efforts as a recording artist, Hayes broke through in 1969 with the influential album Hoi Buttered Soul and ended up taking home an Oscar for the theme song to the blaxploitation film Shaft. Though critics have charted Hayes’s influence through almost every subsequent strain of black music—crediting him for inventing disco and paving the way for deep-voiced crooners like Barry White—many regarded him as a hack impresario, citing his lengthy "progressive soul" jams, his over-the-top concerts, and his claiming the mantle "Black Moses." After struggling through the 1970s both artistically and financially, Hayes retired from music a few times—returning for short-lived "comeback" recordings—and pursued a film acting career.

Hayes was born August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee, on a sharecropper’s farm; orphaned during his infancy, he was raised by his grandparents. He first sang publicly in church at the age of five. "When I graduated from high school I wanted to be a performer," Hayes told Down Beat "But at that time, in Memphis, there was no market for the kind of music I wanted to do." His preferred style was pop—as exemplified by the velvety singing of Nat King Cole—but Memphis was a blues/R&B town. Hayes married early and thus chose a steady job over higher education or music; though he recorded a single in 1962, nothing came of it. He worked in a meat packing plant and then eased himself back into music, playing gigs in local clubs with his group, Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads. He claimed to be a pianist despite limited training on the instrument: "I learned a little about the piano and as time went on more and more chords and so forth," he told Rolling Stone.

Helped Invent Stax Sound
His first break came when Floyd Newman, a Stax-Volt house player with whom Hayes had been playing, invited the fledgling keyboardist in to cut an instrumental. The Stax sound was largely created by a core unit called the MGs, featuring keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, and drummer Al Jackson, Jr. Hayes recalled to Down Beat that Jones left to attend school and Hayes was invited to replace him; his first session was for an album by legendary vocalist Otis Redding. Staying on at Stax,

Hayes played piano alongside Jones and put in session work on virtually all of Redding’s recordings.

Somewhat later Hayes hooked up with lyricist David Porter, and the two wrote for a number of Stax artists, most notably Sam & Dave. With "Soul Man" and "Hold On, I’m Coming," among others, Hayes and Porter helped to define the funky, exuberant style of mid-sixties soul, a style that would challenge the dominance of Stax’s northern competitor, Detroit’s Motown. The Stax sound would profoundly influence not only ensuing generations of R&B, soul, and funk artists, but also rock and roll groups like the Rolling Stones. As influential as these songs were, they were not written in an exacting manner. Hayes, unable to read or write music, would hum his tunes into a tape recorder and find arrangers to chart them out. But the tunes were powerful and authentic; as Time reported, "Into their songs, Hayes and Porter injected the whole experience of the black ghetto."

At a Stax office party, Hayes was approached by Al Bell, the company’s vice-president. The two were a bit drunk on champagne, and, according to Hayes’s reminiscences in Down Beat, Bell said: "Come on in the studio, I want to cut something on you." "I didn’t take him seriously, but I said OK," Hayes related, "so we went back there and he turned on the machine and I just started going through some things—we hadn’t rehearsed or anything—and out of that came the first LP." Hayes was assisted in the studio by Dunn and Jackson. The album was called Presenting Isaac Hayes. "It was a simple, powerful record," wrote Rolling Stone. "It bombed."

Stardom With Hot Buttered Soul
Hayes admitted in Down Beat that he "could have done better," and later Bell gave him the chance to prove it. "Some three years later, in January 1969, AI Bell came to me and said: ‘We have a sales meeting in May, and the quota is 27 LPs, and I need one from you.’ So I said: ‘Wait a minute, man. You need an LP. Can I cut it like I want to cut it?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, man—whatever you want to do. Just give me the LP.’"

The album in question was Hot Buttered Soul, and it made Isaac Hayes a star. With only four songs, it was a very unusual soul record, but the time was ripe for musical experimentation; Soul went platinum, hitting Number Eight on the pop charts. Exceedingly lush compared to the spartan grooves of the Stax jukebox, the record utilizes strings and backing vocalists to produce an almost symphonic quality. "One of the few weaknesses of Hot Buttered Soul is the tendency of the production to overwhelm the basic funkiness of Hayes’ voice and organ," noted Rolling Stone. "More frequently, however, his deep sandpaper voice rubs straight into the heart of a song." Indeed, Hayes’s gravelly pre-song monologues—he called it "rapping" before rap music existed—and deep crooning established a tradition of R&B bedroom patter upon which singer Barry White built an impressive career. Of Hayes’s persona, Vince Aletti of the Village Voice wrote in 1986, "If his image was aggressively macho (shaved head, bared chest, chains) on vinyl, Hayes turned to mush—a sensitive stud oozing sincerity and concern: [blaxploitation hero] Superfly in love. The pose was bogus but benign; the format—extended love talk/extended love song— was killer."

The follow-up recordings Isaac Hayes Movement and … To Be Continued also made it into the Top 20. Hayes struck again in 1971 with the theme to the urban cop thriller Shaft, for which he won an Academy Award and Grammy awards for best instrumental arrangement and best original score written for a motion picture. The song—a tense, funky workout with horns, flute, and strings that also gave the wah-wah guitar sound a preeminent place in ’70s soul—features a call-and-response dialogue between Hayes and several female backup singers. Its lyrics ("Who’s the black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks?") and sound helped to mold the music of the era. In it are elements from a wide array of musical styles from jazz to R&B to gospel. The "Theme From Shaft" reached Number One on the pop charts and went platinum. Hayes became a superstar, riding around in limousines and sporting extravagant outfits. "I like luxury, man," he told Time, "because it’s what I never had."

Criticism Despite Success
Hayes snagged a 1972 Grammy Award for best pop instrumental performance by an arranger, composer, orchestra and/or choral leader in honor of his 1971 effort Black Moses. Both of his 1973 releases, Live at the Sahara Tahoe and Joy, were certified gold. In the meantime, he was performing to huge crowds, presenting what Rolling Stone sarcastically referred to as "beautifully executed lounge music." But the magazine cited even harsher criticism, noting, "A prominent black music writer privately accuses Ike [Hayes] of perpetrating ‘the ultimate degradation of black music.’" The same article quoted a musician acquaintance of Hayes’s as saying, "Ike’s fried his mind on acid and his music’s never been the same."

Hayes’s records—including the soundtracks to the blaxploitation films Truck Turner and Three Tough Guys, in which he also appeared as an actor—continued to sell reasonably well. Having had a falling out and extended legal wrangling with Stax, which ultimately went bankrupt, he established his own label, Hot Buttered Soul, as an ABC subsidiary. In 1975, he released Chocolate Chip, which was certified gold, and Groove-a-Thon. The next year, he helped make disco a household word with Juicy Fruit. (The title cut from the album is subtitled "Disco Freak.") Melody Maker noted in its review of Juicy Fruit that Hayes’s "[work] subsequent to ‘Chip’ has been a blend of straight disco grist and ponderous ballads, and his latest is no exception."

Unfortunately, 1976 also saw Hayes forced to declare bankruptcy, due to both the mishandling of funds by his managers and his own excesses. Relocating to Atlanta, Hayes appeared on the TV show The Rockford Files and, in 1977, signed with Polydor Records. During the late 1970s, he released a flurry of records, including Royal Rappin’s, which he recorded with singer Millie Jackson. Several of his early Stax albums were re-released around this time. He received two Grammy nominations in 1978, and the title track from the 1979 effort Don’t Let Go was certified gold. He also appeared in the 1981 film Escape From New York and hosted a syndicated radio show. Even so, his difficulties continued, and he removed himself from the limelight for the rest of the first half of the 1980s. When he returned with the album U-Turn—with its anti-drug single "Ike’s Rap"—in 1986, he told Dennis Hunt of the Los Angeles Times he’d spent the intervening years in Atlanta and London: "I haven’t been doing that much, just little odds and ends to survive and keep the bills paid." Hunt called the new album "vintage Hayes dressed up with modern techno-pop touches."

In 1991 Jet reported that Hayes planned to collaborate on an album with Barry White. He had in the meantime appeared in more films and seen further evidence of his importance in the development of pop music, as rap, rock, and funk spun variations on his innovations. Though many critics derided his image and impulses, Hayes had emerged as a crucial influence on the American music scene.

Selected discography

On Stax
Presenting Isaac Hayes, 1967.
Hot Buttered Soul, 1969.
Isaac Hayes Movement, 1970.
… To Be Continued, 1970.
Shaft (soundtrack), 1971.
Black Moses, 1971.
Live at the Sahara Tahoe, 1973.
Joy, 1973.
Tough Guys (soundtrack), 1973.
Truck Turner (soundtrack), 1974.
Hotbed, 1978.
Enterprise—His Greatest Hits, 1980.

On ABC/Hot Buttered Soul
Chocolate Chip, 1975.
Groove-a-Thon, 1975.
Juicy Fruit (includes "Juicy Fruit [Disco Freak]"), 1976.

On Polydor
New Horizons, 1977.
(With Dionne Warwick) A Man and a Woman, 1977.
For the Sake of Love, 1978.
Don’t Let Go, 1979.
(With Millie Jackson) Royal Rappin’s, 1979.
And Once Again, 1980.

U-Turn (includes "Ike’s Rap"), 1986.

Sources
Books
The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, edited by Jon Pareles and Patricia Romanowski, Rolling Stone Press/Summit Books, 1983.
Stambler, Irwin, The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul, St. Martin’s, 1989.

Periodicals
Billboard, September 21, 1974; October 5, 1974; February 7, 1976; April 3, 1976; January 17, 1987.
Crawdaddy, December 1975.
Down Beat, August 6, 1970; April 29, 1971.
Essence, July 1987.
Jet, June 24, 1991; September 23, 1991.
Living Blues, September 1989.
Los Angeles Times, October 11, 1986.
Melody Maker, February 13, 1971; February 20, 1971; October 23, 1971; October 30, 1971; January 13, 1973; February 3, 1973; August 31, 1974; September 28, 1974; September 18, 1976; November 18, 1978; November 10, 1979; July 12, 1980; November 7, 1981; October 20, 1990; May 4, 1991.
Musician, March 1987.
Rolling Stone, May 14, 1970; February 17, 1972.
Time, December 20, 1971.
Variety, October 29, 1969; March 15, 1972; January 24, 1973; February 4, 1976.
Village Voice, October 28, 1986.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Isaac Hayes

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  • Genres: Rhythm & Blues

Biography

Few figures exerted greater influence over the music of the 1960s and 1970s than Isaac Hayes; after laying the groundwork for the Memphis soul sound through his work with Stax-Volt Records, Hayes began a highly successful solo career which predated not only the disco movement but also the evolution of rap.

Hayes was born on August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; his parents died during his infancy, and he was raised by his grandparents. After making his public debut singing in church at the age of five, he taught himself piano, organ, and saxophone before moving to Memphis to perform on the city's club circuit in a series of short-lived groups like Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads, the Teen Tones, and Sir Calvin and His Swinging Cats. In 1962, he began his recording career, cutting sides for a variety of local labels.

Two years later, Hayes began playing sax with the Mar-Keys, which resulted in the beginning of his long association with Stax Records. After playing on several sessions for Otis Redding, Hayes was tapped to play keyboards in the Stax house band, and eventually established a partnership with songwriter David Porter. Under the name the Soul Children, the Hayes-Porter duo composed some 200 songs, reeling off a string of hits for Stax luminaries like Sam & Dave (the brilliant "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby," "Soul Man," and "Hold on, I'm Comin'"), Carla Thomas ("B-A-B-Y"), and Johnnie Taylor ("I Got to Love Somebody's Baby," "I Had a Dream").

In 1967, Hayes issued his debut solo LP Presenting Isaac Hayes, a loose, jazz-flavored effort recorded in the early-morning hours following a raucous Stax party. With the release of 1969's landmark Hot Buttered Soul, he made his commercial breakthrough; the record's adventuresome structure (comprising four lengthy songs), ornate arrangements, and sensual grooves -- combined with the imposing figure cut by his shaven head, omnipresent sunglasses, and fondness for gold jewelry -- made Hayes one of the most distinctive figures in music.

After a pair of 1970 releases, The Isaac Hayes Movement and To Be Continued, he reached his commercial zenith in 1971 with the release of Shaft, the score from the Gordon Parks film of the same name. Not only did the album win Hayes an Academy Award for Best Score (the first African-American composer to garner such an honor), but the single "Theme from Shaft," a masterful blend of prime funk and pre-rap monologues, became a number one hit.

After 1971's superb Black Moses and 1973's Joy, Hayes composed two 1974 soundtracks, Tough Guys and Truck Turner (in which he also starred). By 1975, relations with Stax had disintegrated following a battle over royalties, and soon he severed his ties with the label to form his own Hot Buttered Soul imprint. Although both 1975's Chocolate Chip and 1976's Groove-a-Thon went gold, his records of the period attracted considerably less attention than prior efforts; combined with poor management and business associations, Hayes had no choice but to file for bankruptcy in 1976.

After the 1977 double-LP A Man and a Woman, recorded with Dionne Warwick, Hayes began a comeback on the strength of the hit singles "Zeke the Freak," "Don't Let Go." and "Do You Wanna Make Love." Following the success of his 1979 collection of duets with Millie Jackson titled Royal Rappins, he issued a pair of solo records, 1980's And Once Again and 1981's Lifetime Thing before retiring from music for five years. After returning in 1986 with the LP U Turn and the Top Ten R&B hit "Ike's Rap," Hayes surfaced two years later with Love Attack before again dropping out of music to focus on acting.

In 1995, fully enshrined as one of the forefathers of hip-hop and newly converted to Scientology, Hayes emerged with two concurrent releases, the vocal Branded and instrumental Raw and Refined. Under the official name Nene Katey Ocansey I, he also served as a member of the royal family of the African nation of Ghana while continuing simultaneous careers as an actor, composer, and humanitarian. In 1997, Hayes provided the voice of what was slated to be a one-time character on the animated series South Park -- Jerome "Chef" McElroy, the main characters' favorite school cafeteria worker. Hayes was an instant hit, and Chef became a regular character on the show, lending advice and, oftentimes, breaking into songs that gently sent up Hayes' image as one of R&B's ultimate love men.

South Park made Hayes more visible than ever and cemented his status as an icon with a whole new generation. He contributed the infamous "Chocolate Salty Balls" to the South Park tie-in album Chef Aid, and naturally appeared in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. (He left the show only after an episode made fun of Scientology.) In 2000, Hayes revisited his biggest triumph of the past by appearing in the remake of Shaft starring Samuel L. Jackson. The following year, he supported Alicia Keys as a musician and arranger on her acclaimed debut, Songs in A Minor. Although he recorded little during the 2000s, he appeared in many films, including 2004's Hustle and Flow. Hayes was in ill health on August 10, 2008, when he collapsed at his home in Memphis and was pronounced dead later that day of a stroke due to high blood pressure. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Isaac Hayes

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For the ophthalmologist and editor, see Isaac Hays. For the American arctic explorer, see Isaac Israel Hayes.
Isaac Hayes Jr.

Isaac Hayes performs at the International Amphitheater in Chicago as part of the annual PUSH Black Expo, October 1973
Background information
Birth name Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr.
Born August 20, 1942(1942-08-20)
Covington, Tennessee
Origin Shelby County, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Died August 10, 2008(2008-08-10) (aged 65)
Memphis, Tennessee[1]
Genres R&B, funk, soul, disco
Occupations Singer-songwriter, arranger, record producer, actor
Instruments the piano, keyboard instruments, vocals, trombone and the saxophone
Years active 1962–2008
Labels Enterprise/Stax, ABC, Columbia Records, Point Blank
Associated acts David Porter, Booker T. & the MGs, The Bar-Kays
Website isaachayes.com

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American songwriter, musician, singer, and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes, Porter, Bill Withers, the Sherman Brothers, Steve Cropper, and John Fogerty were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of notable songs for themselves, the duo "Sam & Dave", Carla Thomas, and others.

The hit song "Soul Man", written by Hayes and Porter and first performed by "Sam & Dave", has been recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame. It was also honored by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by Rolling Stone magazine, and by the RIAA as one of the Songs of the Century.

During the late 1960s, Isaac Hayes also began recording music and he had several successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971). In addition to his work in popular music, he worked as a composer of musical scores for motion pictures.

He is well known for his musical score for the film Shaft (1971). For the "Theme from Shaft", he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972. He became the third African-American, after Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel, to win an Academy Award in any competitive field covered by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He also won two Grammy Awards for that same year. Later, he was given his third Grammy for his music album Black Moses.

In 1992, in recognition of humanitarian work there, he was crowned the honorary king of the Ada, Ghana region. He also acted in motion pictures and television, such as in the movie, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and as Gandolf "Gandy" Fitch in the TV series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). From 1997 to 2005, he lent his distinctive, deep voice to the character "Chef" on the animated TV series South Park.

His influences are Percy Mayfield, Big Joe Turner, James Brown, Jerry Butler, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, and psychedelic soul groups like The Chambers Brothers and Sly and the Family Stone. Allmusic.com says that Isaac Hayes is responsible for the evolution of disco and rap.

On August 5, 2003, Isaac Hayes was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Urban Awards for his enduring influence on generations of music makers.[2] Throughout his songwriting career, Hayes received five BMI R&B Awards, two BMI Pop Awards, two BMI Urban Awards and six Million-Air citations. As of 2008, his songs generated more than 12 million performances.[3]

Contents

Life and career

Early years

Isaac Hayes, Jr., was born in Covington, Tennessee, in Tipton County. He was the second child of Isaac Hayes, Sr., and Eula Hayes.[4]

After his mother died young, and his father abandoned his family, Isaac, Jr., was raised by his maternal grandparents,[5] Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade, Sr. The child of a poor sharecropper family, he grew up working on farms in Shelby County, Tennessee and in Tipton County.

Hayes dropped out of high school, but he was later encouraged by his former high school teachers at Manassas High School in Memphis to complete his high school diploma, which he did at the age of 21. After graduating from high school, Hayes was offered several music scholarships from colleges and universities. Hayes turned down all of them because of his obligations to his immediate family. Hayes next worked at a meat-packing plant in Memphis by day, and he played music at nightclubs and juke joints several evenings a week in Memphis and nearby northern Mississippi.[5]

Hayes began singing at the age of five at his local church, and, soon after, he taught himself to play the piano, the Hammond organ, the flute, and the saxophone. His first professional gigs, in the late 1950s, were as a singer at Curry's Club in North Memphis, backed by Ben Branch's houseband.[6]

Stax Records and Shaft

Hayes began his recording career in the early 1960s, as a session player for various acts of the Memphis-based Stax Records. He later wrote a string of hit songs with songwriting partner David Porter, including "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Soul Man", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", and "Hold On I'm Comin" for Sam & Dave. Hayes, Porter and Stax studio band Booker T. & the M.G.'s were also the producers for Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and other Stax artists during the mid-1960s. Hayes-Porter contributed to the Stax sound made famous during this period, and Sam & Dave credited Hayes for helping develop both their sound and style. In 1968, Hayes released his debut album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, a jazzy, largely improvised effort that was commercially unsuccessful.[7]

His next album was Hot Buttered Soul, which was released in 1969 after Stax had gone through a major upheaval. The label had lost its largest star, Otis Redding, in a plane crash in December 1967. Stax lost all of its back catalog to Atlantic Records in May 1968. As a result, Stax executive vice president Al Bell called for 27 new albums to be completed in mid-1969; Hot Buttered Soul, was the most successful of these releases.[7] This album is noted for Hayes' image (shaved head, gold jewelry, sunglasses, etc.) and his distinct sound (extended orchestral songs relying heavily on organs, horns, and guitars, deep bass vocals, etc.). Also on the album, Hayes re-interprets "Walk On By" (which had been made famous by Dionne Warwick) into a twelve-minute exploration. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" starts with an eight-minute long monologue[8] before breaking into song, and the lone original number, the funky "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" runs nearly ten minutes, a significant break from the standard three minute soul/pop songs.

"Walk On By" would be the first of many times Hayes would take a Burt Bacharach standard, generally made famous as three-minute pop songs by Dionne Warwick or Dusty Springfield, and transform it into a soulful, lengthy and almost gospel number.

In 1970, Hayes released two albums, The Isaac Hayes Movement and To Be Continued. The former stuck to the four-song template of his previous album. Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused" begins with a trademark spoken word monologue, and Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" is re-worked. The latter spawned the classic "The Look Of Love", another Bacharach song transformed into an eleven-minute epic of lush orchestral rhythm (mid-way it breaks into a rhythm guitar jam for a couple of minutes before suddenly resuming the slow love song). An edited three-minute version was issued as a single.[9] The album also featured the instrumental "Ike's Mood," which segued into his own version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". Hayes released a Christmas single, "The Mistletoe and Me" (with "Winter Snow" as a B-side).

In early 1971, Hayes composed music for the soundtrack of the blaxploitation film Shaft. (in the movie, he also appeared in a cameo role as the bartender of No Name Bar). The title theme, with its wah-wah guitar and multi-layered symphonic arrangement, would become a worldwide hit single, and spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in November. The remainder of the album was mostly instrumentals covering big beat jazz, bluesy funk, and hard Stax-styled soul. The other two vocal songs, the social commentary "Soulville" and the nineteen-minute jam "Do Your Thing," would be edited down to hit singles.[9] Hayes won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the "Theme from Shaft," and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score for the film's score.

Later in the year, Hayes released a double album, Black Moses, that expanded on his earlier sounds and featured The Jackson 5's song "Never Can Say Goodbye". Another single, "I Can't Help It", was not featured on the album.

In 1972, Hayes would record the theme tune for the TV series The Men and enjoy a hit single (with "Type Thang" as a B-side).[9] He released several other non-album singles during the year, such as "Feel Like Making Love", "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)", and "Rolling Down a Mountainside". Atlantic would re-release Hayes' debut album this year with the new title In The Beginning.[10]

Hayes was back in 1973 with an acclaimed live double album, Live At Sahara Tahoe, and followed it up with the album Joy, with the eerie beat of the fifteen-minute title track. He moved away from cover songs with this album. An edited "Joy" would be a hit single.[11]

In 1974, Hayes was featured in the blaxploitation films Three Tough Guys and Truck Turner, and he recorded soundtracks for both. Tough Guys was almost devoid of vocals and Truck Turner yielded a single with the title theme. The soundtrack score was eventually used by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill film series and has been used for over 30 years as the opening score of Brazilian radio show Jornal de Esportes on the Jovem Pan station.

Unlike most African-American musicians of the period, Hayes did not sport an Afro and instead chose to shave his head bald.

HBS (Hot Buttered Soul Records) and bankruptcy

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By 1974, Stax Records was having serious financial problems, stemming from problems with overextension and limited record sales and distribution. Hayes himself was deep in debt to Union Planters Bank, which administered loans for the Stax label and many of its other key employees. In September of that year, Hayes sued Stax for $5.3 million. As Stax was in deep debt and could not pay, the label made an arrangement with Hayes and Union Planters: Stax released Hayes from his recording and production contracts, and Union Planters would collect all of Hayes' income and apply it towards his debts. Hayes formed his own label, Hot Buttered Soul, which released its product through ABC Records. His new album, 1975's Chocolate Chip saw Hayes embrace the disco sound with the title track and lead single. "I Can't Turn Around" would prove a popular song as time went on. This would be Hayes' last album to chart top 40 for many years. Later in the year, the all instrumental Disco Connection album fully embraced disco.

In 1976, the album cover of Juicy Fruit featured Hayes in a pool with naked women, and spawned the title track single and the classic "Storm Is Over". Later the same year the Groove-A-Thon album featured the singles "Rock Me Easy Baby" and the title track. However, while all these albums were regarded as solid efforts, Hayes was no longer selling large numbers. He and his wife were forced into bankruptcy in 1976, as they owed over $6 million. By the end of the bankruptcy proceedings in 1977, Hayes had lost his home, much of his personal property, and the rights to all future royalties earned from the music he'd written, performed, and produced.

Basketball team ownership

On July 17, 1974, Hayes, along with Mike Storen, Avron Fogelman and Kemmons Wilson took over ownership of the American Basketball Association team the Memphis Tams.[12] The prior owner was Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Oakland A's baseball team. Hayes' group renamed the team the Memphis Sounds. Despite a 66% increase in home attendance, hiring well regarded coach Joe Mullaney and, unlike in the prior three seasons, making the 1975 ABA Playoffs (losing to the eventual champion Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division semifinals), the team's financial problems continued. The group was given a deadline of June 1, 1975 to sell 4,000 season tickets, obtain new investors and arrange a more favorable lease for the team at the Mid-South Coliseum. The group did not come through and the ABA took over the team, selling it to a group in Maryland that renamed the team the Baltimore Hustlers and then the Baltimore Claws before the club finally folded during preseason play for the 1975-1976 season.[13]

Polydor and hiatus, film work, and the Duke of New York

In 1977, Hayes was back with a new deal with Polydor Records, a live album of duets with Dionne Warwick did moderately well, and his comeback studio album New Horizon sold better and enjoyed a hit single "Out The Ghetto", and also featured the popular "It's Heaven To Me".

1978's For The Sake Of Love saw Hayes record a sequel to "Theme from Shaft" ("Shaft II"), but was most famous for the single "Zeke The Freak", a song that would have a shelf life of decades and be a major part of the House movement in the UK. The same year, Fantasy Records, which had bought out Stax Records, released an album of Hayes' non-album singles and archived recordings as a "new" album, Hotbed, in 1978.

In 1979, Hayes returned to the Top 40 with Don't Let Go and its disco-styled title track that became a hit single (U.S. #18), and also featured the classic "A Few More Kisses To Go". Later in the year he added vocals and worked on Millie Jackson's album Royal Rappin's, and a song he co-wrote, "Deja Vu", became a hit for Dionne Warwick and won her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal.

Neither 1980s And Once Again or 1981's Lifetime Thing produced notable songs or big sales, and Hayes chose to take a break from music to pursue acting.

In the 1970s, Hayes was featured in the films Shaft (1971) and Truck Turner (1974); he also had a recurring role in the TV series The Rockford Files as an old cellmate of Rockford's, Gandolph Fitch (who always referred to Rockford as "Rockfish" much to his annoyance), including one episode alongside duet-partner Dionne Warwick. In the 1980s and 90s, he appeared in numerous films, notably Escape from New York (1981), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Prime Target (1991), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), as well as in episodes of The A-Team and Miami Vice. He also attempted a musical comeback, embracing the style of drum machines and synth for 1986s U-Turn and 1988s Love Attack, though neither proved successful. In 1991 he was featured in a duet with fellow soul singer Barry White on White's ballad "Dark and Lovely (You Over There)".

Return to fame and stardom

In 1995 Hayes appeared as a Las Vegas minister impersonating Isaac Hayes in the comedy series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Hayes launched a comeback on the Virgin label in May 1995 with Branded, an album of new material that earned impressive sales figures as well as positive reviews from critics who proclaimed it a return to form.[14] A companion album released around the same time, Raw and Refined, featured a collection of previously unreleased instrumentals, both old and new.

In a rather unexpected career move shortly thereafter, Hayes charged back into the public consciousness as a founding star of Comedy Central's controversial — and wildly successful — animated TV series, South Park. Hayes provided the voice for the character of "Chef", the amorous elementary-school lunchroom cook, from the show's debut on August 13, 1997 (one week shy of his 55th birthday), through the end of its ninth season in 2006. The role of Chef drew on Hayes's talents both as an actor and as a singer, thanks to the character's penchant for making conversational points in the form of crudely suggestive soul songs. An album of songs from the series appeared in 1998 with the title Chef Aid: The South Park Album[15] reflecting Chef's popularity with the show's fans, and the Chef song "Chocolate Salty Balls" became a number-one U.K. hit.[16] However, when South Park leaped to the big screen the following year with the smash animated musical South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Hayes/Chef was the only major character who did not perform a showcase song in the film; his lone musical contribution was "Good Love," a track on the soundtrack album which originally appeared on Black Moses in 1971 and is not heard in the movie[17] (more on Chef below).

In 2000, Isaac Hayes appeared in the soundtrack of the French film "The Magnet" on the song "Is It Really Home" written and composed by rapper Akhenaton (IAM) and composer Bruno Coulais.

Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. The same year, a documentary highlighting Isaac's career and his impact on many of the Memphis artists in the 1960s onwards was produced, "Only The Strong Survive".

In 2004, Hayes appeared in a recurring minor role as the Jaffa Tolok on the television series Stargate SG-1. The following year, he appeared in the critically acclaimed independent film Hustle & Flow. He also had a brief recurring role in UPN's Girlfriends as Eugene Childs (father of Toni).

Scientology activism

Hayes joined Scientology around 1995. He contributed endorsement blurbs for many Scientology books. The frontispiece page for Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought (1997 paperback edition) quotes Hayes as saying "If you really want to know about the mind, the spirit and life itself, read Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought. It will put you on the right path!" In 1996, Hayes began hosting The Isaac Hayes and Friends Radio Show on WRKS in New York City. While there Hayes became a client of young vegan raw food chef, Elijah Joy and his company Organic Soul, Inc. Hayes also appears in the Scientology film Orientation.

In 1998 Hayes and fellow Scientologist entertainers Anne Archer, Chick Corea and Haywood Nelson attended the 30th anniversary of Freedom Magazine, the Church of Scientology's investigative news journal, at the National Press Club in Washington DC, to honor eleven human rights activists.[18]

In 2001, Hayes and Doug E. Fresh, another Scientologist musician, recorded a Scientology-inspired album called The Joy Of Creating – The Golden Era Musicians And Friends Play L. Ron Hubbard.[19]

Charitable work

The Isaac Hayes Foundation was founded in 1999 by Hayes.[20]

In February 2006, Hayes appeared in a Youth for Human Rights International music video called "United". YHRI is a human rights group founded by the Church of Scientology.

Hayes was also involved in other human rights related groups such as the One Campaign. Isaac Hayes was crowned a chief in Ghana for his humanitarian work and economic efforts on the country’s behalf.[citation needed]

Family

Hayes fathered 12 children, and had 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.[21] His fourth wife, Adjowa,[22] gave birth to a son named Nana Kwadjo Hayes on April 10, 2006.[23] One son is his namesake, Isaac Hayes III, known as rap producer Ike Dirty. Hayes' eldest daughter is named Veronica,[24] and he also had a daughter named Heather Hayes.[25]

Hayes' first marriage, in 1960, ended in divorce.[26]

He married bank teller[citation needed] Mignon Harley on April 18, 1973, and they divorced in 1986; they had two children.[27] For her wedding gift, Hayes gave her a matching convertible Jaguar.[citation needed] The couple resided in a mansion with maid service. Hayes and his wife were forced into bankruptcy, owing over $6 million. Over the years, Isaac Hayes was able to recover financially.[28]

Stroke and death

Wikinews has related news: Soul singer Isaac Hayes dies at age 65
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Grave of Isaac Hayes

On March 20, 2006, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported that Hayes had suffered a minor stroke in January.[29] Hayes' spokeswoman, Amy Harnell, denied this,[30] but on October 26, 2006, Hayes himself confirmed that he had suffered a stroke.[31]

Hayes was found unconscious and unresponsive in his home located just east of Memphis on August 10, 2008, as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff's Department. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy and an ambulance from Rural Metro responded to his home after his wife found him on the floor near a still-running treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08 p.m.[32] Hayes was 65 years old and ten days short of his 66th birthday.[1][33] The cause of death was not immediately clear,[34] though the area medical examiners later listed a devastating recurrence of stroke as the cause of death.[33][35]

Legacy

The Tennessee General Assembly enacted legislation in 2010 to honor Hayes by naming a section of Interstate 40 the "Isaac Hayes Memorial Highway". The name was applied to the stretch of highway in Shelby County from Sam Cooper Boulevard in Memphis east to the Fayette County line. The naming was made official at a ceremony held on Hayes' birth anniversary in August 2010.[36]

South Park

Isaac Hayes was the voice of Chef on South Park.

During the late 1990s, Hayes gained new popularity as the voice of Chef on the Comedy Central animated television series South Park. Chef was a soul-singing cafeteria worker for South Park Elementary. A song from the series performed by Chef, "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)", received international radio airplay in 1999. It reached number-one on the UK singles chart and also on the Irish singles chart. The track also appeared on the album Chef Aid: The South Park Album in 1998.[37]

Scientology episode

In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", a satire of Scientology which aired on November 16, 2005, Hayes did not appear in his role as Chef. While appearing on the Opie and Anthony radio show about a month after the episode aired, Hayes was asked, "What did you think about when Matt and Trey did that episode on Scientology?", he replied, "One thing about Matt and Trey, they lampoon everybody, and if you take that serious, I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge for two dollars. That's what they do."

In an interview for The A.V. Club on January 4, 2006, Hayes was again asked about the episode. He said that he told the creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that’s your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that shit, you know?" He then told them to take a couple of Scientology courses to understand what they do. In the interview, Hayes defended South Park's style of controversial humor, noting that he was not pleased with the show's treatment of Scientology, but conceding that he "understands what Matt and Trey are doing."[38]

Departure from South Park

Wikinews has related news: Isaac Hayes quits South Park over Scientology episode

On March 13, 2006, a statement was issued in Hayes' name, indicating that he was asking to be released from his contract with Comedy Central, citing recent episodes which satirized religious beliefs as being intolerant. "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 was quoted in a press statement. The statement, however, did not directly mention Scientology. A response from Stone said that Hayes' complaints stemmed from the show's criticism of Scientology and that he "has no problem – and he's cashed plenty of checks – with our show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons or Jews."[39][40] Stone adds, "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we did Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." Stone and Parker agreed to release Hayes from his contract by his request.

On March 20, 2006, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported having been told that the March 13 statement was made in Hayes' name, but not by Hayes himself. He wrote: "Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park. My sources say that someone quit it for him. ... Friends in Memphis tell me that Hayes did not issue any statements on his own about South Park. They are mystified."[29] In a 2007 interview, Hayes said, "They didn’t pay me enough", and, "They weren’t that nice."[41]

The South Park season 10 premiere (aired March 22, 2006) featured "The Return of Chef", a thinly veiled telling of the affair from Parker and Stone's point of view. Using sound clips from past episodes, it depicts Chef as having been brainwashed and urges viewers (via Kyle talking to the town) to "remember Chef as the jolly old guy who always broke into song" and not to blame Chef for his defection, but rather, as Kyle states, "be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains." In the episode, the cult which brainwashed Chef is named the "Super Adventure Club" and is depicted as a group of child molesters who travel the world to have sex with minors from exotic places. In the end, Chef is unable to break free from his brainwashing and dies an extremely painful death, falling off a cliff and being eaten alive by wild animals. At the end of the episode he is shown as being resurrected as a cyborg in the style of the resurrection of Darth Vader at the end of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

After South Park

Hayes’ income was sharply reduced as a result of leaving South Park.[42] There followed announcements that he would be touring and performing. A reporter present at a January 2007 show in New York City, who had known Hayes fairly well, reported that "Isaac was plunked down at a keyboard, where he pretended to front his band. He spoke-sang, and his words were halting. He was not the Isaac Hayes of the past."[42]

In April 2008, while a guest on The Adam Carolla Show, Hayes stumbled in his responses to questions – possibly as a result of health issues. A caller questioned whether Hayes was under the influence of a substance, and Carolla and co-host Teresa Strasser asked Hayes if he had ever used marijuana. After some confusion on what was being asked, Hayes replied that he had only ever tried it once. During the interview the radio hosts made light of Hayes' awkward answers, and replayed Hayes comments as sound drops – often simulating conversation with his co-hosts. Hayes stated during this interview that he was no longer on good terms with Trey Parker and Matt Stone.[43] Two months after his death, the South Park episode "The China Probrem" was dedicated to him.

During the spring of 2008, Hayes shot scenes for a comedy about soul musicians inspired by the history of Stax Records entitled Soul Men, in which he appears as himself in a supporting role. His voice can be heard in the film in a voice-over role as Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac (who died the day before Hayes), and Sharon Leal's characters are traveling through Memphis, Tennessee. His first actual appearance in the film is when he is shown in the audience clapping his hands as The Real Deal does a rendition of Hayes' 1971 hit song "Do Your Thing." His next appearance consists of him entering The Real Deal's dressing room to wish them luck on their performance and shaking hands with Louis Hinds (played by Jackson) and Floyd Henderson (played by Mac). During this scene, Hayes also helps Hinds reunite with his long-lost daughter Cleo (played by Leal). His final appearance in the film consists of him introducing The Real Deal to the audience.[42] The film was released on November 7, 2008.

Awards and nominations

Year Award Result Category Film, album, or song
1972 Academy Award Nominated Best Music, Original Dramatic Score Shaft
Won Best Music, Original Song (For the song "Theme from Shaft") Shaft
1972 BAFTA Award Nominated Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music Shaft
1998 BMI Film & TV Award Won BMI TV Music Award Soul Man (Shared with David Porter)
1972 Golden Globe Award Nominated Best Original Song (For the song "Theme from Shaft") Shaft
Won Best Original Score Shaft
1972 Grammy Award[44] Won Best Instrumental Arrangement (For the song "Theme from Shaft", arranged with Johnny Allen) Shaft
Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special Shaft
1973 Best Pop Instrumental Performance By An Arranger, Composer, Orchestra and/or Choral Leader Black Moses
1999 NAACP Image Award Nominated Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series South Park
2006 Screen Actors Guild Award Nominated Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Hustle & Flow (Shared with cast)

Discography

Main article: Isaac Hayes discography

Top Forty US and UK albums

Top Forty US and UK singles

Selected songwriting and production with David Porter

Filmography

Year Title Role Other notes
1973 Wattstax Himself
1974 Three Tough Guys Lee
Truck Turner Mac "Truck" Turner
1976 It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time Moriarty
1976–1977 The Rockford Files Gandolph Fitch TV, 3 episodes
1981 Escape from New York The Duke
1985 The A-Team C.J. Mack TV, 1 episode
1986 Hunter Jerome "Typhoon" Thompson TV, 1 episode
1987 Miami Vice Holiday TV, 1 episode
1988 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka Hammer
1989 All Dogs Go to Heaven Ike voice
1990 Fire, Ice and Dynamite Hitek Leader/Himself Alternative title: Feuer, Eis und Dynamit
1993 CB4 Owner
Posse Cable
Robin Hood: Men in Tights Asneeze
American Playhouse Prophet TV, 1 episode
1994 It Could Happen to You Angel Dupree
Tales from the Crypt Samuel TV, 1 episode
1995 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Minister TV, 1 episode
1996 Flipper Sheriff Buck Cowan
Sliders The Prime Oracle TV, 1 episode
1997 Uncle Sam Jed Crowley
1997–2006 South Park Chef (Voice) TV, 137 episodes
1998 Blues Brothers 2000 The Louisiana Gator Boys
1999 South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Chef (Voice)
The Hughleys The Man TV, 2 episodes
2000 Reindeer Games Zook
Shaft Mr. P Uncredited
2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Possum (Voice)
2002 The Education of Max Bickford "Night Train" Raymond TV, 1 episode
Fastlane Detective Marcus TV, 1 episode
2003 Girlfriends Eugene Childs TV, 2 episodes
2005 Hustle & Flow Arnel
2006 That 70's Show Himself TV, 1 episode
Stargate SG-1 Tolok TV, 4 episodes
2008 Soul Men Himself
Kill Switch Coroner
Return to Sleepaway Camp Charlie His last role

References

  1. ^ a b "Memphis soul legend Isaac Hayes dead at 65". Wmctv.com. 2008-08-10. http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=8817903. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  2. ^ "BMI Celebrates Urban Music at 2003 Awards Ceremony". bmi.com. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233797. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  3. ^ "Soul King Isaac Hayes Dead at 65". bmi.com. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/537092. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  4. ^ Isaac Hayes Biography (1942-)
  5. ^ a b Holley, Joe (August 11, 2008). "Isaac Hayes; Created Memphis Sound, 'Theme From Shaft'". Washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/10/AR2008081001405.html. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  6. ^ Bowman, Rob Soulsville, U.S.A.: the story of Stax Records Music Sales Group, 2003 ISBN 0-8256-7284-8, 9780825672842 at Google Books
  7. ^ a b "Ultimate Isaac Hayes (Can You Dig It?), Audio". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
  8. ^ "RIP Isaac Hayes". Perthetic.wordpress.com. 2008-08-12. http://perthetic.wordpress.com/2008/08/12/rip-isaac-hayes. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  9. ^ a b c Isaac Hayes Discography. The Stax Site. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
  10. ^ MusicStack entries for In the Beginning show that the LP's contents are identical to those of Presenting Isaac Hayes.
  11. ^ Isaac Hayes Billboard chart history. Allmusic.com. Retrieved March 15, 2008.
  12. ^ [1][dead link]
  13. ^ "Memphis Sounds". Remember the ABA. http://www.remembertheaba.com/Memphis-Sounds.html. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  14. ^ "Isaac Hayes interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' May 1995". Bluesandsoul.com. 2008-08-10. http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/319/bands_classic_interview_soul_icon_isaac. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  15. ^ "Chef Aid: The South Park Album (Television Compilation) [Extreme Version]: Darren Mitchell, James Hetfield, Marc Shaiman, Matt Stone: Music". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000G2JM. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  16. ^ "Featured Artists from the Official UK Charts Company". Theofficialcharts.com. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/stats-one-hit-wonders.php. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  17. ^ "South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut: Various Artists: Music". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000JKR8. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  18. ^ Kennedy, James (1998-10-23). "Haywood You Remember Garden City Park". Mineola American, Anton Community Newspapers. http://antonnews.com/mineolaamerican/1998/10/23/news/. Retrieved 2010-07-27. 
  19. ^ Leggett, Jonathan (2006-03-25). "Cult musicians". The Guardian (London: The Guardian). http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2006/mar/25/popandrock. 
  20. ^ "charity". Isaac Hayes.com. http://www.isaachayes.com/charity/. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  21. ^ You Can Dig Him, Chattanooga Pulse, December 13, 2006
  22. ^ ISAAC HAYES AND ADJOWA HAYES, beliefnet.com
  23. ^ Isaac Hayes the Father of Baby Boy, AP, May 16, 2006
  24. ^ "Isaac Hayes Sent Off With Legendary Funeral". Actressarchives.com. 2008-08-19. http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=11844. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  25. ^ "The Kevin Ross Show - Isaac Hayes His Children Record Label Reflect On A Musical Giant 8/13/2008 - 3BAAS Media Group | Internet Radio". Blog Talk Radio. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/kevin-ross/2008/08/14/The-Kevin-Ross-Show-Black-Hollywood-Politics-Uncensored. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  26. ^ "Isaac Hayes Biography (1942-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/84/Isaac-Hayes.html. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  27. ^ "Isaac Hayes". Nndb.com. http://www.nndb.com/people/192/000024120/. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  28. ^ "Old School Tidbits". Panache Report. http://panachereport.com/channels/old_school_update/OldSchoolTidbits.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  29. ^ a b Roger Friedman (March 20, 2006). "Chef’s Quitting Controversy". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188463,00.html. 
  30. ^ Hayes Slams 'Stroke' Rumors, Hollywood.com, March 27, 2006
  31. ^ Hayes has put stroke, 'South Park' behind him, MySanAntonio.com, October 26, 2006.
  32. ^ Levine, Doug (11 August 2008). "Singer, Songwriter Isaac Hayes Dies". VOA News (Voice of America). http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-08/2008-08-11-voa47.cfm. Retrieved 3 January 2009. 
  33. ^ a b "Soul legend Isaac Hayes dies". CNN. August 10, 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/10/hayes.obit/. Retrieved 2008-08-10. 
  34. ^ CBS: Oscar-Winning Singer Isaac Hayes Dead: "Hot Buttered Soul" Made Him Famous Four Decades Ago, "Theme From Shaft" Won Prestigious Awards. Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  35. ^ "Stroke killed singer Isaac Hayes". BBC News. 2008-08-13. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7557895.stm. Retrieved 2010-09-11. 
  36. ^ Bob Mehr (August 20, 2010). "I-40 stretch named for Memphis music star Isaac Hayes". Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee). http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/20/i-40-stretch-named-memphis-music-star-isaac-hayes/. 
  37. ^ "Chef - Character Guide - South Park Studios". www.southparkstudios.com. http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/characters/chef. 
  38. ^ A.V. Club interview of Isaac Hayes, January 4, 2006.
  39. ^ "Isaac Hayes quits 'South Park' citing religious intolerance". CBC. March 23, 2006. http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/03/13/southpark-chef-quits.html. 
  40. ^ "South Park gets revenge on Chef". BBC News. March 23, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4836286.stm. 
  41. ^ ISAAC PUTS CHEF BEHIND HIM, The New York Post, January 24, 2007
  42. ^ a b c Roger Friedman, "Isaac Hayes' History With Scientology", Fox News, August 11, 2008
  43. ^ Isaac Hayes interview, MP3 format, FreeFM: The Adam Carolla Show, April 9, 2008
  44. ^ "Past Winners Search GRAMMY.com". grammy.com. http://www.grammy.com/nominees/search?artist=Isaac+Hayes&title=&year=All&genre=All. Retrieved 2011-02-22. 

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Author/Writer: Ernest Tidyman · Directors: Gordon Parks · John Guillermin · John Singleton · Theme Author: Isaac Hayes
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