Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 –
August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and
actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s,[4] serving as an in-house songwriter with his partner David Porter,
as well as a session musician and record producer. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[5]
During the late 1960s, Hayes also began a career as a recording artist. He released several successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971). In addition to his work in popular music, Hayes worked as a film composer.
Hayes wrote the musical score for the film Shaft (1971). For the "Theme from Shaft", he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972, making him the third black person, after Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier, to win an Academy Award in any competitive field covered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hayes also won two Grammy Awards that same year. Later, he won his third Grammy for his album Black Moses.
In 1992, Hayes was crowned honorary king of the Ada region of Ghana in recognition of his humanitarian work there.[6] He acted in films and television, such as in the movies Truck Turner (1974), Escape from New York (1981) and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), and as Gandolf "Gandy" Fitch in the TV series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). Hayes also voiced the character Chef in the Comedy Central animated series South Park from its debut in 1997 until his controversial departure in 2006.
On August 5, 2003, Hayes was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Urban Awards for his enduring influence on generations of musicians.[7]
Throughout his songwriting career, Hayes received five BMI R&B
Awards, two BMI Pop Awards, two BMI Urban Awards and six Million-Air
citations.
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was born on August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee,[8] the second child of Eula (née Wade) and Isaac Hayes Sr.[9] After his mother died young and his father abandoned his family, Hayes was raised by his maternal grandparents,[10] Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade Sr. The child of a sharecropper family, Hayes grew up working on farms in the Tennessee counties of Shelby and Tipton.
At age five, Hayes began singing at his local church and he taught
himself to play the piano, Hammond organ, flute, and saxophone.[citation needed]
Hayes dropped out of high school, but his former teachers at Manassas High School in Memphis
encouraged him to complete his diploma, which he did at the age of 21.
After graduating from high school, Hayes was offered several music
scholarships from colleges and universities. He turned down all of them
to provide for his immediate family, working at a meat-packing plant in
Memphis by day and playing nightclubs and juke joints several evenings a week in Memphis and nearby northern Mississippi.[10] Hayes's first professional gigs, in the late 1950s, were as a singer at Curry's Club in North Memphis, backed by Ben Branch's houseband.
Hayes began his recording career in the early 1960s, as a session musician for acts recorded by the Memphis-based Stax Records.[12] He later wrote a string of hit songs with songwriting partner David Porter, including "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Soul Man",[13] "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. One of the first Stax records Hayes
played on was "Winter Snow" by Booker T. and The M.G.s (Stax 45–236),
which indicates "Introducing Isaac Hayes on piano" on the label.
Hayes-Porter contributed to the Stax sound of 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.[14]
Stax then went through a major upheaval, losing its biggest star when Otis Redding died in a plane crash in December 1967, and then losing 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; Hayes's second album, Hot Buttered Soul was the most successful of these releases.[14]
On Hot Buttered Soul, Hayes reinterpreted "Walk On By" (previously recorded by Dionne Warwick) into a 12-minute exploration. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" starts with an eight-minute-long monologue[15]
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 known as three-minute pop songs by Dionne Warwick or Dusty Springfield, and transform it into a soulful, lengthy and almost gospel number.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] The latter album included "The Look of Love",
another Bacharach song transformed into an 11-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.[16] The album featured the instrumental "Ike's Mood", which segues into a version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling". Hayes released a Christmas single, "The Mistletoe and Me" (with "Winter Snow" as a B-side).[citation needed]
In early 1971, Hayes composed music for the soundtrack of the blaxploitation film Shaft (he appeared in a cameo role as a bartender). 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 "Soulsville" and the 19-minute jam "Do Your Thing", would be edited down to hit singles.[16] He won an "Academy Award for Best Original Song" for the "Theme from Shaft", and in addition was nominated for Best Original Dramatic 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 television series The Men and release a hit single (with "Type Thang" as a B-side).[16] He released a couple of other non-album singles during the year, such as "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" and "Rolling Down a Mountainside". Atlantic would re-release Hayes's debut album this year with the new title In The Beginning.[17]
Hayes was back in 1973 with an acclaimed live double album, Live at the Sahara Tahoe, and followed it up with the album Joy. He moved away from cover songs with this album. An edited version of the title track would be a hit single.[18]
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 of Truck Turner 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.
By 1974, Stax Records was having serious financial
problems, stemming from problems with overextension and limited record
sales and distribution.[citation needed] 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's income and apply it towards his debts.[citation needed]
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's last album to chart in the top 40 for many years. Later
in the year, the all-instrumental Disco Connection album fully embraced disco.[citation needed]
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. The prior owner was Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Oakland A's baseball team. Hayes's 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 semi-finals), 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.
However, 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.[20]
In 1976, the Groove-A-Thon album featured the single "Rock Me Easy Baby" and the title track. Later the same year, the album cover of Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak)
featured Hayes in a pool with naked women, and spawned the title track
single and the classic "The Storm Is Over". 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 had written, performed,
and produced.
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 best known 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's 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. number
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.[citation needed]
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 1990s, 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)".
In 1995, Hayes appeared as a Las Vegas minister impersonating himself in the comedy series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He 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.[22] A companion album released around the same time, Raw & Refined, featured a collection of previously unreleased instrumentals, both old and new. For the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, he wrote a version of the Beavis and Butt-Head theme in the style of the Shaft theme.[citation needed]
Hayes joined the founding cast of Comedy Central's animated TV series South Park. He provided the voice for the character of "Chef",
the amorous elementary-school lunchroom cook, from the show's debut on
August 13, 1997, through the end of its ninth season in 2006. The role
of Chef combined his work 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. 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.[23][24][25]
In 2000, Hayes appeared on the soundtrack of the French movie The Magnet
on the song "Is It Really Home" written and composed by rapper
Akhenaton (IAM) and composer Bruno Coulais. In 2002, Hayes was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After he played a set at the 2002 Glastonbury Festival, 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.[citation needed] 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/The CW's Girlfriends as Eugene Childs (father of Toni).
In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet", a satire of Scientology that aired on November 16, 2005, Hayes did not appear in his role as Chef. In an interview for The A.V. Club,
Hayes said that he was not pleased with the show's treatment of
Scientology, but said that he "understands what Matt and Trey are
doing".[26]
On March 13, 2006, a statement was issued in Hayes's name, indicating that he was asking to be released from his contract with Comedy Central,
calling recent episodes that satirized religious beliefs 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 as saying in the press-statement. However,
the statement did not directly mention Scientology. A response from
Stone said that Hayes's 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."[27][28]
On March 20, 2006, two days before the episode "The Return of Chef" aired, Roger Friedman of Fox News
reported having been told that the March 13 statement was made in
Hayes's 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 2016 oral history of South Park in The Hollywood Reporter, Hayes's son Isaac Hayes III
said the decision to leave the show was made by his father's entourage,
all of whom were ardent Scientologists, and that it was made after
Hayes suffered a stroke, leaving him vulnerable to outside influence and
unable to make such decisions on his own.[30] However, the Associated Press
acknowledged that Hayes had in fact quit due to objection over "Trapped
in the Closet"'s portrayal of Scientology. Despite later alleging that
he supported the belief that Hayes' departure from South Park was
conjured up by members of the Church of Scientology, with his agent
Christina Kimball supposedly writing the statement regarding his
departure,[31]
Matt Stone had previously conceded in March 2006 that the South Park's
decision to take aim at Scientology was indeed connected to his personal
decision to depart from the show, "This is 100 percent having to do
with his faith of Scientology. ... He has no problem ... with our show
making fun of Christians." Trey Parker "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.
Hayes's income was sharply reduced as a result of leaving South Park.[33] There followed announcements that he would be touring and performing. A Fox News
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."[33]
In April 2008, while a guest on The Adam Carolla Show,
Hayes stumbled in his responses to questions, possibly as a result of
health problems. 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's awkward answers, and replayed snippets of earlier ones
to simulate conversation with his co-hosts. Hayes stated during this
interview that he was no longer on good terms with Parker and Stone.[34]
During the spring of 2008, Hayes shot scenes for Soul Men,
a comedy inspired by the history of Stax Records, in which he appears
as himself in a supporting role. The film was released in November 2008,
after both Hayes and his costar, Bernie Mac, had died.
