Isaac Hayes Biography, Photos and Posters

Isaac Hayes

Biography

Born: August 20, 1942
City and Country of Origin: Covington, Tennessee
Music Training: self taught
Awards: 2002 he was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame; Academy Award 1972, "Shaft;" Golden Globe Award 1972, "Shaft;" 1998 BMI Film & TV Award, "Soul Man" Grammy Award 1972, 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
Top Recordings: "Walk on By," "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Theme from Shaft," "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Do Your Thing," "Joy," "Don't Let Go," (as Chef) "Chocolate Salty Balls"
Isaac Hayes biopgraphy: Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Memphis song label Stax Records where he functioned as in-house song-writer, producer and partner of David Porter during the mid-1960s. He was also an award winning composer of motion picture scores.

Hayes' best known work was for the 1971 film Shaft, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards.

He was the second son of Isaac Sr. and Eula Hayes, but was raised by his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade, Sr., after the death of his parents. He dropped out of Manassas High, but got his diploma at the age of 21.

Hayes started his music career in the early 1960s as a session musician for a variety of acts at Memphis based Stax Records. There he teamed with songwriting partner David Porter to pen such hits as "You Don't Know Like I Know," "Soul Man," "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby," and "Hold On I'm Comin" for Sam and Dave.

Isaac's first personal attempt as a recording artist, the album Presenting Isaac Hayes, proved to be commercially unsuccessful. In 1969, after Stax had lost its top performer Otis Redding in a plane crash and all of its back catalog to Atlantic Records, Hayes' second album Hot Buttered Soul was released. This proved to be the labels most successful release at that time, with Isaac unveiling his signature look with shaved head, gold jewelry and sun glasses. On the album he also introduced his ability to expand upon songs previously recorded by other artists, making them his very own. This is the case with his re-interpretation of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By" and Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

The Isaac Hayes Movement and To Be Continued were Hayes' 1970 offerings. The former contained a rearranged version of Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused" marked by a 12 minute spoken word monologue. The second album spawned the Isaac Hayes interpretation of the classic Bacharach song "The Look Of Love."

It wasn't until 1971 that Hayes would become a music icon when he composed and recorded the music for the black exploitation film Shaft. The theme song became an international hit and spent 2 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later that year he relaesed the double album Black Moses, that expanded on his earlier sounds and featured The Jackson 5's song "Never Can Say Goodbye".

1972 brought several less successful efforts like the theme tune for the TV series The Men, and the singles "Feel Like Making Love", "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)", and "Rolling Down a Mountainside." Atlantic also rereleased his debut album with the new title In The Beginning.

The following year brought the live double album Live At Sahara Tahoe, and followed it up with the album Joy, with eerie beat of the fifteen-minute title track. He moved away from cover songs in this album. An edited "Joy" would be a hit single.

In 1974 Hayes was featured in the films Three Tough Guys and Truck Turner, and he recorded soundtracks for both. The theme song from the latter yielded a single which was later used in the film Kill Bill That year also brought financial problems to Stax Records and to Hayes personally who was deeply in debt to Union Planters Bank which had loaned money to both Stax and some of its key employees. A deal was struck by which the bank would collect all of Hayes' income and apply it to the loans. In return Stax agreed to release Hayes from his contract.

Hayes formed his own record 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.

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. That same year Hayes had a new record deal with Polydor Records. A live album of duets with Dionne Warwick did moderately well, but his comeback studio album New Horizon was more successful with the popular singles "Out The Ghetto" and "It's Heaven To Me."

During the following years Hayes continued to release albums like The Sake Of Love, HotBed, Don't Let Go and U-Turn with modest success. Meanwhile Hayes continued to pursue his acting career with a recurring role on The Rockford Files and movie roles Escape from New York (1981), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Prime Target (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), and Johnny Mnemonic (1995).

Hayes suffered a stroke on March 20, 2006, He was found unconscious in his home located just east of Memphis, Tennessee on August 10, 2008 as reported by the Shelby County Sheriff's Department. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes's 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 2:08pm, at the age of 65. The cause of death was not immediately known, though authorities subsequently listed stroke as the cause of death.

Died: August 10, 2008

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