Hayes, Isaac
Isaac Hayes
Singer, songwriter
Stardom With Hot Buttered Soul
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,
For the Record…
Born August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; son of Isaac and Eula Hayes; married, c. 1960 (divorced); children: eight.
Worked in meat packing plant; performed in clubs with Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads, Memphis, TN; worked as house musician and songwriter, Stax-Volt Records, 1964-67; released first solo album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, 1967; released first ABC/Hot Buttered Soul album, Chocolate Chip, 1975; signed to Polydor Records and released New Horizons, 1977; film and television actor and radio host, c. 1976—; appeared in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Twentieth Century Fox, 1993.
Awards: Academy Award for best song from a motion picture and Grammy awards for best instrumental arrangement and best original score written for a motion picture, 1971, for “Theme From Shaft”; Grammy Award for best pop instrumental performance by an arranger, composer, orchestra and/or choral leader, 1972, for Black Moses; Grammy award nominations, 1978, for composition of Dionne Warwick’s “Déjà Vu” and for best male R&B performer.
Addresses: Booking agent —Headline Talent Inc., 1650 Broadway, Ste. 508, New York, NY 10019.
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.
—Simon Glickman
Hayes, Isaac 1942–
Hayes, Isaac 1942–
PERSONAL
Full name, Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr.; born August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; son of Isaac, Sr., and Eula Hayes; married, c. 1960 (divorced); married second wife (divorced); married Mignon Harley (divorced, 1986); married Adjowa, May 2005; children: (first marriage) two daughters; (second marriage) three; (third marriage) two; and four other children. Religion: Scientologist.
Addresses: Agent—International Creative Management, 8942 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Manager—Saffron Management, 8899 Beverly Blvd., Suite 812, West Hollywood, CA 90048.
Career: Musician, songwriter, and actor. Formed music group Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads, Memphis, TN, c. 1963; Mar-Keys (music group), saxophonist, 1964; Stax-Volt Records, Memphis, session musician, composer, and producer, 1964–67; released first solo record, 1967; began working as an actor, 1973; signed to Polydor Records, 1977; KISS-FM, New York City, disc jockey, 1996; composer of more than 200 songs with songwriter David Porter. Appeared in and provided voices for television commercials, including Fogdog. com, 2000, Nite at Nite, 2001, and Lays potato chips, 2006. World Literacy Crusade, spokesperson, 1993–. Also worked in a meat-packing plant and as a cotton picker.
Awards, Honors: Grammy Award nomination (with David Porter), best rhythm and blues recording, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1967, for "Soul Man" (recorded by Sam and Dave); Academy Award, best song, Grammy Awards (with Johnny Allen), best instrumental arrangement and best engineered recording, 1971, for "Theme from Shaft"; Academy Award nomination, best music—original dramatic score, Golden Globe Award, best original score, Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music nomination, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Grammy Award, best original score written for a motion picture or a television special, and Grammy Award nomination, album of the year, all 1971, for Shaft; Grammy Award, best pop instrumental performance by an arranger, composer, orchestra, and/or choral leader, 1972, for Black Moses; Grammy Award nomination, best rhythm and blues instrumental, 1972, for "Let's Stay Together"; Grammy Award nomination, best male rhythm and blues vocal, 1975, for Chocolate Chip; Grammy Award nomination, best composer, 1978, for "Deja Vu" (performed by Dionne Warwick); Grammy Award nomination, best male rhythm and blues performance, 1978; Grammy Award nomination, best male rhythm and blues vocal, 1979, for "Don't Let Go"; BMI TV Music Award (with David Porter), 1998, for Soul Man; Image Award nomination, outstanding lead actor in a comedy series, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 1999, for South Park; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inductee, 2002; Songwriter Hall of Fame, inductee, 2005; Screen Actors Guild Award nomination (with others), outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture, 2006, for Hustle & Flow.
CREDITS
Film Appearances:
Himself, Soul in Cinema: Filming Shaft on Location, 1971.
Himself, Save the Children, 1973.
Himself, Wattstax, 1973.
Himself, The Black Moses of Soul, 1973.
Lee Stevens, Three Tough Guys (also known as Tough Guys, Les durs, and Uomini duri), Paramount, 1974.
Title role, Truck Turner (also known as Black Bullet), American International Pictures, 1974.
Moriarty, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time (also known as Good Idea), Ambassador, 1975.
The Duke of New York, Escape from New York (also known as John Carpenter's "Escape from New York'), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1981.
Jamal, Mace (also known as Dead Aim), Vestron, 1987.
Willy, Nightstick (also known as Calhoun), ITC Entertainment Group, 1987.
Ballard, Escuadron (also known as Counterforce and Escuadron: Counterforce), 1987.
Hammer, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1988.
Medium Rare, 1989.
Hitek leader and himself, Feuer, eis, und dynamit (also known as Fire, Ice, and Dynamite), 1990.
Captain Thompkins, Prime Target, Hemdale, 1991.
Aloysius, Guilty As Charged, IRS Releasing, 1991.
Lieutenant Herb Jefferson, Final Judgment, 1992.
Lieutenant Johanson, Deadly Exposure, Kushner-Locke Company, 1993.
Owner, CB4, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, 1993.
Cable, Posse, Gramercy, 1993.
Asneeze, Robin Hood: Men in Tights (also known as Sacre Robin des bois), Twentieth Century-Fox, 1993.
Buster, Oblivion, Paramount Home Video, 1993.
Angel Dupree, It Could Happen to You (also known as Cop Gives Waitress $2 Million Tip! and Cop Tips Waitress $2 Million), TriStar, 1994.
Out of Sync, LIVE Entertainment, 1995.
Voice of mad face, Magic Island, Paramount Home Video, 1995.
Preacher Hurn, Once upon a Time … When We Were Colored, IRS Releasing, 1995.
Buster, Oblivion 2: Backlash (also known as Backlash and Backlash: Oblivion 2), Full Moon, 1996.
George, Illtown, Shooting Gallery, 1996.
Sheriff Buck Cowan, Flipper, Universal, 1996.
Bill Bennet, Six Ways to Sunday, Stratosphere Entertainment, 1997.
Member of Louisiana Gator Boys band, Blues Brothers 2000, Universal, 1998.
Jed Crowley, Uncle Sam, Solomon International, 1998.
Woo, New Line Cinema, 1998.
Tippytoe, Ninth Street, Jaguar Entertainment, 1999.
Voice of Jerome "Chef" McElroy, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (also known as South Park and South Park: BLU), Warner Bros., 1999.
Zook, Reindeer Games (also known as Deception), Dimension Films, 2000.
Isaac Hayes, Dead Dog, Regent Entertainment, 2000.
(Uncredited) Mr. H., Shaft (also known as Shaft-Noch Fragen?), Paramount, 2000.
Voice of Possum, Dr. Doolittle 2 (also known as DR.2 and DR2), Twentieth Century-Fox, 2001.
(Uncredited) Voice of man in elevator, Chelsea Walls (also known as Chelsea Hotel), Lions Gate Films, 2001.
Himself, Only the Strong Survive (documentary), Miramax, 2002.
Himself, Soulsville (documentary short film), Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 2003.
Himself, Return to "Escape from New York' (documentary short film), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment, 2003.
Detective John Wade, Dodge City: A Spaghetto Western, 2004.
Yoshi, Dream Warrior (also known as A Man Called Rage), ThinkFilm, 2004.
Arnel, Hustle & Flow, MTV Films, 2005.
Himself, United (short film), ITN Distribution, 2005.
Charlie, Return to Sleepaway Camp (also known as Nightmare V and Sleepaway Camp V: The Reunion), 2006.
Television Appearances; Series:
Voice of Jerome "Chef" McElroy, South Park (animated), Comedy Central, 1997–2006.
Television Appearances; Movies:
Frank Moreno, Betrayed by Innocence (also known as Jailbait: Betrayed by Innocence), CBS, 1986.
Detective Stubbs, Acting on Impulse (also known as Eyes of a Stranger, Roses Are Dead, Secret Lies, and Secret Lives), Showtime, 1993.
Jonah Parks, Book of Days, PAX, 2003.
Television Appearances; Specials:
Himself, Burt Bacharach: Close to You, ABC, 1972.
Himself, Jack Benny's First Farewell Show, NBC, 1973.
The Osmond Special, CBS, 1974.
Himself, American Bandstand's 25th Anniversary, ABC, 1977.
"Hammer," Wilson, Hammer, Slammer, and Slade, ABC, 1990.
Host, "Delta Blues 911!" A&E Stage, Arts and Entertainment, 1992.
Prophet, "Hallelujah," American Playhouse, PBS, 1993.
Himself, Children of Africa, 1993.
LIFEbeat Benefit Concert—The Beat Goes On 2, VH1, 1995.
Vernon Holland, The Soul Survivors, BBC, 1995.
Himself, Burt Bacharach … This Is Now, PBS, 1996.
Host, Music in the Movies '97, ABC, 1997.
After New Year's Eve, ABC, 1998.
An African American Salute to the Academy Awards, syndicated, 1998.
Host, Comedy Central's Hi-Fi Party, Comedy Central, 1998.
The Goodwill Games Opening Celebration, TBS, 1998.
Interviewee, Inside Scientology, Arts and Entertainment, 1998.
Song performer, Sinbad's Summer Jam 4: 70's Soul Music Festival, HBO, 1998.
Song performer, Wrestlemania Rage Party, UPN, 1999.
Himself, Goin' Down to South Park, 1999.
Academy Awards Pre-Show, E! Entertainment Television, 1999.
Host and narrator, It's Only Rock and Roll, VH1, 2000.
Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years (1955–1970), AMC, 2000.
Himself, Acapulco Black Film Festival, Black Starz, 2000.
The 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Moments on TV, VH1, 2000.
Half Past Autumn: The Life and Times of Gordon Parks, HBO, 2000.
Himself, Top Ten Comedy Records, 2000.
Himself, Comedy Central Presents: The N.Y. Friars Club Roast of Rob Reiner, Comedy Central, 2000.
Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over, Arts and Entertainment, 2001.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum: 17th Annual Induction Ceremony, VH1, 2002.
Himself, Baadassssss Cinema, Independent Film Channel, 2002.
Himself, The Last Poets, Bravo, 2002.
Sounds of Memphis, 2002.
(Uncredited) Himself, Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s, 2002.
Himself, Soul Comes Home, PBS, 2003.
Himself, I Love the '70s, VH1, 2003.
Himself, Soul Man: Isaac Hayes, BBC, 2003.
Himself, The Jacksons: America's First Family of Music, 2003.
Himself, AFI's 100 Years … 100 Songs: America's Greatest Music in the Movies, CBS, 2004.
Introducing Graham Norton, Comedy Central, 2004.
Host, My Music: Funky Soul Superstars, PBS, 2005.
Television Appearances; Awards Presentations:
Himself, The 44th Annual Academy Awards, NBC, 1972.
Himself, The 21st Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1979.
Himself, The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards, CBS, 1980.
Himself, The 1st Annual Soul Train Music Awards, 1987.
Himself, The 26th Annual American Music Awards, ABC, 1998.
The 15th Annual Soap Opera Awards, NBC, 1999.
Presenter, The 26th Annual American Music Awards, ABC, 1999.
Presenter, The 30th NAACP Image Awards, Fox, 1999.
The 72nd Annual Academy Awards Presentation, ABC, 2000.
Presenter, My VH1 Music Awards, VH1, 2001.
(Uncredited) Himself, The 75th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 2003.
Himself, The 2004 Trumpet Awards, TBS, 2004.
Television Appearances; Pilots:
Detective Marcus, Fastlane, 2002.
Elegant man, Anonymous Rex, Sci-Fi Channel, 2004.
Television Appearances; Episodic:
Himself, The Music Scene, 1969.
Himself, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (also known as Laugh-In), 1972.
Gandolph Fitch, "The Hammer of C Block," The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1976.
Gandolph Fitch, "Just Another Polish Wedding," The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1977.
Gandolph Fitch, "The Second Chance," The Rockford Files (also known as Jim Rockford, Private Investigator), NBC, 1977.
C. J. Mack, "The Heart of Rock n' Roll," The A-Team, 1985.
Jerome "Typhoon" Thompson, "The Return of Typhoon Thompson," Hunter, NBC, 1986.
Holiday, "Child's Play," Miami Vice, 1987.
Himself, Golden Age of Rock'n'Roll, 1991.
"Revenge Is the Nuts," Tales from the Crypt (also known as HBO's "Tales from the Crypt'), 1994.
Minister, "Wedding Show (Psyche!)," The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, NBC, 1995.
The Prime Oracle, "Obsession," Sliders, Fox, 1996.
Himself, "Barry White," Behind the Music, VH1, 1999.
The Man, "Daddy's Going to Hell," The Hughleys, 1999.
Himself, "Veronica's New Year," Veronica's Closet, NBC, 1999.
The Man, "Miracle on 135th and Avalon," The Hugh-leys, ABC, 1999.
Presenter: Heartbreakers, Top Ten, Channel 4, 2000.
Sound Effects, VH1, 2000.
Himself, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, syndicated, 2001.
"Night Train" Raymond, "Save the Country," The Education of Max Bickford, CBS, 2002.
Himself, V Graham Norton, Channel 4, 2002, 2003.
Eugene Childs, "Blood Is Thicker than Liquor," Girlfriends, UPN, 2003.
Eugene Childs, "The Wedding," Girlfriends, UPN, 2003.
Himself, Tavis Smiley, PBS, 2004.
Himself, "The Music Mac," The Bernie Mac Show, Fox, 2005.
Himself, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, NBC, 2005.
Tolok, "Reckoning: Parts 1 & 2," Stargate SG-1, Sci-Fi Channel, 2005.
Tolok, "Threads," Stargate SG-1, Sci-Fi Channel, 2005.
Himself, "Spread Your Wings," That '70s Show, Fox, 2006.
RECORDINGS
Albums:
Presenting Isaac Hayes, Stax, 1967.
Hot Buttered Soul, Stax, 1969.
Isaac Hayes Movement, Stax, 1970.
… To Be Continued, Stax, 1970.
Shaft (film soundtrack), Stax, 1971.
Black Moses, Stax, 1971.
Live at the Sahara Tahoe, Stax, 1973.
Joy, Stax, 1973.
Tough Guys (film soundtrack), Stax, 1973.
Truck Turner (film soundtrack), Stax, 1974.
Chocolate Chip, ABC/Hot Buttered Soul, 1975.
Groove-a-Thon, ABC/Hot Buttered Soul, 1975.
Juicy Fruit, ABC/Hot Buttered Soul, 1976.
New Horizon, Polydor, 1977.
(With Dionne Warwick) A Man and a Woman, Polydor, 1977.
For the Sake of Love, Polydor, 1978.
Hotbed, Stax, 1978.
Don't Let Go, Polydor, 1979.
(With Millie Jackson) Royal Rappin's, Polydor, 1979.
And Once Again, Polydor, 1980.
Enterprise—His Greatest Hits, Stax, 1980.
U-Turn, Polydor, 1986.
The Best of Isaac Hayes, Volume 1, Stax, 1986.
The Best of Isaac Hayes, Volume 2, Stax, 1986.
Love Attack, Columbia, 1988.
Greatest Hit Singles, Stax, 1991.
Branded, Pointblank/Virgin, 1995.
Raw and Refined, Pointblank/Virgin, 1995.
Ultimate Collection, 2000.
Other albums include (with Barry White) Back to Back; Branded, Raw, and Refined; Lifetime Thing; and (with Donald Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr.) Present.
Video Games:
Voice of J-Bone, Johnny Mnemonic: The Interactive Action Movie, 1995.
Voice of Jerome "Chef" McElroy, South Park, 1998.
Voice of Chef, South Park Rally, 1999.
Voice of Chef, South Park: Chef's Luv Shack, 1999.
Videos:
Himself, Oscar's Greatest Moments, 1992.
(Uncredited) Himself, Orientation: A Scientology Information Film, 1996.
This Is Scientology: An Overview of the World's Fastest Growing Religion, Church of Scientology International, 2004.
WRITINGS
Film Music:
Maidstone, Supreme Mix, 1970.
(And lyricist) Shaft, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1971.
(Uncredited) Shaft's Big Score!, 1972.
Three Tough Guys (also known as Tough Guys, Les durs, and Uomini duri), Paramount, 1974.
Truck Turner (also known as Black Bullet), American International Pictures, 1974.
Exit the Dragon: Enter the Tiger (also known as Bruce Lee: Star of Stars), 1976.
Mas que amor, frenesi (also known as Not Love, Just Frenzy), Jour de Fete Films, 1996.
Ninth Street, Jaguar Entertainment, 1999.
South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, Warner Bros., 1999.
Bui Doi, 2001.
Television Music; Series:
Composer of theme "The Men," Assignment Vienna, 1972.
Composer, Shaft, 1973.
Stage Music:
Street Corner Symphony, Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1997–98.
Books:
Cooking with Heart and Soul, Putnam, 2000.
OTHER SOURCES
Books:
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Schirmer, 2001.
Contemporary Black Biography, Vol. 20, Gale Group, 1998.
Periodicals:
Billboard, March 26, 1995, p. 23.
Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, p. 59; September 22, 1995, p. 16; January 9, 2004, p. 65.
Interview, May, 1995, p. 24.
People Weekly, July 8, 1996, p. 101; November 17, 1997, p. 252.
Saturday Night, March, 1998, p. 10.
Hayes, Isaac 1942–
Isaac Hayes 1942–
Vocalist, composer
Launched a Successful Solo Career
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.
An Innovative Musical Talent
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.
At a Glance…
Born August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; son of Isaac and Euta 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–.
Selected 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.
Addresses: Record label —PolyGram Records, 810 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10019.
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.
Recorded His First Album
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.
Launched a Successful Solo Career
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 J’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.
Selected 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.
Sources
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
Hayes, Isaac
Isaac Hayes
1942–
Singer, composer
Musician Isaac Hayes' greatest fame rests on one composition, Theme from Shaft, which became an iconic soundtrack for the 1970s as the theme song to the Blaxploitation film Shaft, an African American-oriented police drama released in 1971. 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 music career flagged after the momentum it had when Hayes was a top seller for the Stax label in the early 1970s. Yet Hayes remained active, seeking out new career opportunities and charitable work. By the late 1990s, Hayes had found celebrity yet again as the voice of Chef on the animated show South Park. In the early 2000s, Hayes's place in history remained firmly rooted in his musical influence on 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 "Theme from 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.
Struggled Out of Poverty
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 Hayes 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.
Found Fame with Music
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.
At a Glance …
Born on August 20, 1942, in Covington, TN; son of Isaac and Eula Hayes; married three times (divorced three times); married fourth wife, Adowja Hayes; children: ten. Education: Memphis, high school graduate. Religion: Scientology.
Career : Soul music vocalist, 1962–; Stax Records, staff musician and songwriter, 1964–67; Stax Records, recording artist, 1967–75; ABC, recording artist, 1975; Polydor, recording artist, 1977; actor, 1976–; Point Blank, recording artist, 1995; South Park, voice of Chef, 1997–2006; Isaac Hayes Foundation, founder, 1999–; Isaac Hayes-Music-Food-Passion, restaurant owner, 2001–; cookbook author, 2000–.
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; Ghana, Ada district, coronated honorary king, 1992, for humanitarian work; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inductee, 2002; BMI Icon, 2003; Songwriters Hall of Fame, inductee, 2005.
Addresses: Web—www.isaachayes.com.
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.
Found New Audience as Chef
Hayes had sought voice over work for some time when his agent landed him an audition for a new animated show called South Park in the late 1990s. Hayes was cast as the voice of Chef, a school cook and "mentor" to the show's youthful main characters. Early on Hayes had his doubts that joining the show was a wise career move. "We started putting episodes in the can, and when the airdate was announced, I started thinking, 'I've ruined my career, man. I'm going to have to run out of town …,'" Hayes remembered to the San Francisco Chronicle in 2005. "But when the thing aired, the ratings went through the roof." By the early 2000s Hayes had gained considerable popularity as the voice of Chef, finding that he would be greeted at record signings by music fans as well as a number of fans wanting him to sign Chef dolls. "That's when I realized my fan base had spread from 6 to 96," he related to the San Francisco Chronicle. After a decade as the voice of Chef, Hayes abruptly quit the series in the spring of 2006 after an episode that mocked his religion, Scientology. In a statement quoted in the Chicago Defender, Hayes explained his reasoning: "Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored. As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices." Hayes's comments provoked skeptics to point out that Hayes had participated in many South Park episodes that mocked other religions over the years. After Hayes left the show, South Park aired an episode in which Chef met with a gruesome demise.
The split with South Park did not seem to bother Hayes as he turned his attentions to other aspects of his career. He remained committed to his music, and began work on a new album. He continued hosting a soul music radio program; He had a six-year run on New York's KISS-FM radio station in 2002 before moving to Memphis' WRBO Soul Classics in 2000. He reaped rewards from the popularity of his memoir/cookbook, Cooking With Heart & Soul: Making Music in the Kitchen with Family and Friends, as it went into multiple printings after its publication in 2000, and his barbeque sauce brought in profits since its market introduction in 2000. He also held court on stage at his Isaac Hayes-Music-Food-Passion restaurants that he had opened in the early 2000s in Memphis and Chicago. And through his Isaac Hayes Foundation, which he set up in 1999, Hayes offered aid to people, especially children around the globe. Yet Isaac Hayes, a figure nearly universally recognized since his Shaft days, remained best known as a "music legend" and "icon," as he was often referred to in the press.
Selected works
Books
Cooking with Heart & Soul: Making Music in the Kitchen with Family and Friends, Putnam, 2000.
Selected 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.
Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?, Stax, 2005.
Sources
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.
Chicago Defender, March 15, 2006, p. 16.
Entertainment Weekly, June 9, 1995, p. 59.
Interview, May 1995, p. 24.
Newsweek, March 23, 1998; p. 60.
People, July 8, 1996, p. 101.
Rolling Stone, November 3, 2005, p. 1.
San Francisco Chronicle, December 4, 2005, p. 50.
On-line
Isaac Hayes, www.isaachayes.com (October 19, 2006).
Hayes, Isaac
Hayes, Isaac
Hayes, Isaac, session musician to Otis Redding and other Stax/Volt artists, and coauthor (with David Porter) of 1960s soul classics such as “Hold On! I’m Comin’” and “Soul Man,”; b. Covington, Tenn., Aug. 20, 1942. Isaac Hayes established himself as a recording artist with 1969’s Hot Buttered Soul The album established the “rap” introduction format to songs later exploited by Barry White, and popularized the sensual, romantic side of soul later plied by White and Marvin Gaye; it broke soul music’s preoccupation with the three-minute song and infused it with an unprecedented level of musical sophistication and complexity. Hayes’s 1971 album Shaft established both the scratch guitar rhythm and wah-wah bass in soul music, and was the first of a spate of massively successful soundtrack albums to 1970s black-oriented movies.
Isaac “Ike” Hayes began singing with the Morning Stars vocal group after moving to Memphis with his family. He later took up piano and saxophone, and worked as a session musician, songwriter, and producer at Stax/Volt Records after meeting Floyd Newman of the Mar-Keys. Otis Redding’s longtime keyboard accompanist, Hayes played organ on Redding’s first major pop hit, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now).” In collaboration with David Porter, Hayes wrote “I Got to Love Somebody’s Baby” for Johnnie Taylor and “B-A-B- Y” for Carla Thomas. The team also wrote three smash soul and major pop hits for Sam and Dave: “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” “Soul Man,” and “I Thank You.”
Initiating his own recording career in 1967 on Enterprise Records, Isaac Hayes scored a smash success with 1969’s Hot Buttered Soul. The album featured “rap” song introductions, elaborately orchestrated arrangements, and lengthy song renditions that became standard soul music practices (and eventually clichés) while yielding the two-sided pop and soul hit “Walk on By”/“By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” The best-selling follow-up, The Isaac Hayes Movement, included the major soul and moderate pop hit “I Stand Accused.” In 1971 he achieved a smash soul and major pop hit with “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
Isaac Hayes arranged, performed, and wrote, in part, the soundtrack to the immensely popular 1971 movie Shaft. Released a year before Curtis Mayfield’s Super Fly, Shaft was the first of a series of best- selling soundtracks to black-oriented movies. Of the 15 tracks, only three featured vocals; “Theme from Shaft” became a smash soul and pop hit, and “Do Your Thing” became a smash soul and major pop hit.
Assuming the persona of Black Moses, replete with shaven head, gold chains, and an entourage of beautiful women, Isaac Hayes was soon established on the supper-club circuit, as evidenced by Live at the Sahara Tahoe. He scored a smash soul and major pop hit with “Joy—Pt. 1” in 1974, the year he composed the score for the movies Tough Guys and Truck Turner; he starred in both films. Forming Hot Buttered Soul (HBS) Records under the affiliation of ABC Records in 1975 for five albums, including a live duet set with Dionne Warwick, Hayes later switched to Polydor for his last major pop hit, a remake of Roy Hamilton’s “Don’t Let Go,” and five albums, including Royal Rappin’s, recorded with Millie Jackson. Moving to Columbia Records in the mid-1980s, Isaac Hayes scored a near-smash soul hit with “Ike’s Rap” in 1986. Isaac Hayes eventually returned to the studio for two 1995 albums for Pointblank Records, Branded and the instrumental Raw and Refined.
Discography
isaachayes:Presenting I. H. (1968); Hot Buttered Soul (1969); The I. H. Movement (1970); To Be Continued… (1970); Shaft (soundtrack; 1971); Black Moses (1971); In the Beginning (1972); Live at the Sahara Tahoe (1973); Joy (1973); Tough Guys (soundtrack; 1974); Truck Turner (soundtrack; 1974); The Best of I. H. (1975); Chocolate Chip (1975); Groove-a-Thon (1976); Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) (1976); New Horizon (1977); Hotbed (1978); For the Sake of Love (1978); Don’t Let Go (1979); Enterprise: His Greatest Hits (1980); And Once Again (1980); Lifetime Thing (1981); Greatest Hit Singles (1982); U-Turn (1986); Love Attack (1988); Tough Guys/Truck Turner (soundtracks; 1993); Branded (1995); Raw and Refined (1995); Ultimate Collection (2000). isaac hayes and dionne warwick:A Man and a Woman (1977). isaac hayes and millie jackson:Royal Rappin’s (1979).
—Brock Helander
Hayes, Isaac
Hayes, Isaac
August 20, 1942
Singer, musician, composer, and record producer Isaac Hayes was born in Covington, Tennessee, and attended Memphis public schools. He played saxophone in his high school band, sang in church choirs, and began playing saxophone and piano in local clubs as early as the 1950s, completing his first solo recording in 1962. From 1962 to 1965 he played in the Memphis-area rhythm-and-blues club circuit, including Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dads. He soon formed a songwriting and producing partnership with his friend David Porter. The team worked together for several years at Stax Records in Memphis, establishing the Memphis Sound.
Hayes and Porter together wrote and produced numerous recordings, and Hayes personally worked as arranger, pianist, organist, and producer, with major Stax artists such as Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. Their hit songs of the period 1965–1968 included "Son Man" and "Hold On, I'm Coming," followed by the Hot Buttered Soul album, which went platinum in 1969. Perhaps the crowning achievement of this period was Hayes's 1971 score for the film Shaft, an instant hit for both the film and the subsequent record releases. Shaft earned Hayes an Academy Award, two Grammys, and a Golden Globe award. Next came Black Moses, another Grammy winner, in 1972.
Hayes's style blends rhythm and blues with jazz elements, including sampling and a liberal use of synthesizers and overdubbing. He fits his music to his artists (including himself), and the result often crosses over various performing styles, including blues, jazz, and gospel. The movie Shaft 2000 follows in this vein, and Hayes's artistic efforts continue. In 2004 he won the Trumpet Award and was signed to act in the television series Stargate SG-1 and in the movie Hustle and Flow.
See also Blaxploitation Films; Music in the United States; Recording Industry
Bibliography
Floyd, Samuel, ed. International Dictionary of Black Composers. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2000.
Hardy, Phil, and Dave Laing. Encyclopedia of Rock. New York: Schirmer, 1987.
Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie, eds. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. New York: Grove, 1986.
darius l. thieme (1996)
Updated by publisher 2005