Issac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American soul singer, songwriter, actor, producer, and voice artist. Hayes was one of the creative forces behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter, along with 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. Hayes is also a 2002 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as one of the Songs of the Century. During the late 1960s, Hayes also began a career as a recording artist. 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 was 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 recognition of his humanitarian work there Hayes was crowned honorary king of the Ada, Ghana region in 1992. He acted in motion pictures and television, such as in the movies Truck Turner and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and as Gandolf "Gandy" Fitch in the TV series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). From 1997 to 2006, he voiced the character Chef on the animated TV series South Park. His influences were 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.

On August 5, 2003, Hayes was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Urban Awards for his enduring influence on generations of music makers. 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. He also voiced the character of Chef in South Park for 10 seasons.

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 reflecting Chef's popularity with the show's fans, and the Chef song "Chocolate Salty Balls" became a number-one U.K. hit. 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.

In 2000, he 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 also in the music of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (soundtrack) for Chuckie Chan. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After he played a set at the Glastonbury Festival, 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).

Family
Hayes had 12 children, 14 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Hayes's first marriage was to Dancy Hayes in 1960, ended in divorce.

Hayes's second marriage was to Emily Ruth Watson on November 24, 1965. This marriage ended in divorce in 1972. Children from this marriage included Vincent Eric Hayes, Melanie Mia Hayes, and Nicole A. Hayes (McGee).

He married bank teller[citation needed] Mignon Harley on April 18, 1973, and they divorced in 1986; they had two children. Hayes and his wife were eventually forced into bankruptcy, owing over $6 million. Over the years, Isaac Hayes was able to recover financially.

His fourth wife, Adjowa, gave birth to a son named Nana Kwadjo Hayes on April 10, 2006. He also had one son who is his namesake, Isaac Hayes III, known as rap producer Ike Dirty. Hayes's eldest daughter is named Jackie, also named co-executor of his estate and other children to follow Veronica, Felicia, Melanie, Nikki, Lili, Darius, and Vincent and he also had a daughter named Heather Hayes.

Scientology activism
Hayes took his first Scientology course in 1993, later contributing endorsement blurbs for many Scientology books over the ensuing years. 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 activists.

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.

Charitable work
The Isaac Hayes Foundation was founded in 1999 by Hayes.

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.

Stroke and death
On March 20, 2006, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported that Hayes had suffered a minor stroke in January. Hayes's spokeswoman, Amy Harnell, denied this, but on October 26, 2006, Hayes himself confirmed that he had suffered a stroke.

Hayes was found unresponsive in his home located just east of Memphis on August 10, 2008, ten days before his 66th birthday, 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 three family members found him unresponsive on the floor next to a still-operating treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08 p.m. The cause of death was not immediately clear, though the area medical examiners later listed a recurrence of stroke as the cause of death. He was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery.

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's birth anniversary in August 2010.