Issac Hayes:
Who�s the man?!

BHM pays tribute to one of the world’s greatest music legends, Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes may well be best remembered for his signature song, the theme from the 1971 movie Shaft. With its pulsating hi-hat cymbals and funky wah-wah guitar, he created an urban soul-brother feel that transformed black music and paved the way for artists like Barry White, Millie Jackson and many of today’s modern rock, pop, R&B and hip hop artists.

His shaven-headed, bling-laden, ghetto chic look made him a black cultural icon.

Isaac Hayes was no overnight success. An orphan from a poor background in rural Tennessee where he was raised by his maternal grandparents, he taught himself to play the piano, organ and saxophone.

His big break came in nearby Memphis when he signed for the Stax label as a session musician in 1964. Hayes took over keyboards from Booker T Jones, and his first paid sessions were with Otis Redding.

In partnership with songwriter David Porter, he was responsible for such classics as Sam and Dave’s Soul Man and Hold On I’m Coming. His own work climaxed with his 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul, described by one critic as the most important black recording since James Brown’s Live at the Apollo.

Isaac Hayes’ theme for Shaft in 1971 won him an Oscar for best original song, and set the tone for numerous successive “blaxploitation” movies - the genre in the 1970s targeted at a US African-American audience.

Alongside his film and musical career, Isaac Hayes became increasingly involved with humanitarian causes.

The 1990s saw him travel to the West African state of Ghana to shoot a video with Barry White. It was the first of many visits there during which he helped fund a school to help the spread of literacy. He was made a Ghanaian king with the title Nene Katey Ocansey. In 2005, he married a Ghanaian woman - his fourth marriage. He has 12 children.

In 1993 he became involved with Scientology and within two years had established the Isaac Hayes Foundation, aimed at increasing literacy across the globe. n

BacK: Entertainment