b. Isaac Lee Hayes Jnr., 20th August 1942, Covington, Tennessee, U.S.A.
d. 10th August 2008, Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Isaac Hayes played piano and organ in several clubs in the Memphis area.
He was born on the 20th of August 1942, in Covington, Tennessee.
Isaac's parents died during his childhood, so he was raised by his grandparents.
He began singing in church at the age of five and taught himself the piano, organ and saxophone.
Isaac then relocated to Memphis to perform on the city's club circuit
He was a member of several groups, including, Sir Isaac And The Doo-dads, the Teen Tones and Sir Calvin And His Swinging Cats.
In 1962, he began his recording career, recording sides for a variety of local labels.
In 1964, Isaac signed to the Stax Records imprint.
Isaac worked with the Mar-Keys saxophonist Floyd Newman and stood in, from time to time, for Booker T. Jones.
After playing on several sessions for Otis Redding, Isaac then teamed up with David Porter and the pair achieved success with Sam And Dave's 'Hold On I'm Comin', 'Soul Man' and 'When Something Is Wrong With My Baby'.
They penned Carla Thomas's song, 'B-A-B-Y', and Johnnie Taylor's tunes 'I Had A Dream' and 'I Gotta Love Somebody's Baby'.
Isaac and David formed the group the Soul Children as a vehicle for their songwriting.
In 1967 Isaac relaunched his recording career with the album 'Presenting Isaac Hayes', in 1967.
'Hot Buttered Soul' followed on two years later.
'The Isaac Hayes Movement' and 'To Be Continued' followed in 1970, with 'Black Moses' arriving in 1972.
richard roundtree
The blaxploitation movie 'Shaft' was also released that year, the title track of which became a huge hit on both the Pop and R & B charts that year, reaching the number one spot.
The song was later covered by Eddy And The Soul Band in 1985, and reached number 13 in the U.K. charts.
There were other movie soundtracks that followed in the form of 'Tough Guys', in 1973, and 'Truck Turner' in 1974.
Isaac left Stax in 1975, following disputes over royalties, and set up his own Hot Buttered Soul label.
After problems with the taxman, Isaac was declared bankrupt the following year.
He then relocated to the Polydor and Spring imprints.
In 1977, the double-LP 'A Man and a Woman', recorded with Dionne Warwick, indicated a resurgence in his recording career.
In 1979 a collection of duets with Millie Jackson, titled 'Royal Rappin's', was released.
Isaac, also, produced the album 'Here's My Love' for the artist Linda Clifford the same year.
Isaac then released a couple of solo albums, 1980's 'And Once Again' and 1981's 'Lifetime Thing'.
The same year, Isaac made an appearance in the John Carpenter movie 'Escape From New York', with him playing the role of 'The Duke Of New York'.
Musically, Isaac also retired for five years before re-emerging with 'Ike's Rap', a Top 10 U.S. R & B single taken from the album 'U Turn'.
Two years later he returned again with 'Love Attack', before again dropping out of music to focus on acting.
By 1995, Isaac had converted to Scientology.
He then released two CD's in the form of 'Branded' and the instrumental 'Raw and Refined'.
Under the official name Nene Katey Ocansey I, he also served as a member of the royal family of the African nation of Ghana.
1997 saw Isaac providing the voice of Jerome 'Chef' McElroy, on the animated series South Park.
shaft 2000
In the year 2000, 29 years after the release of the movie 'Shaft', Isaac began work on a new version of the original, for a follow up similarly entitled 'Shaft'.
This was based around the detective, with Samuel L. Jackson taking over the role originally made famous by Richard Rountree.
In 2001, he supported Alicia Keys as a musician and arranger on her acclaimed debut album 'Songs in A Minor', utilising real instrumentation.
The song 'Rock Wit U' was utilised on the 2001 movie soundtrack.
Many of his original Enterprise albums have been reissued in CD format by U.K. Ace under their reactivated Stax logo.
Isaac Hayes died on the 10th of August 2008 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 65.
Albums:
Presenting Isaac Hayes (later reissued as 'In The Beginning') (Stax Records 1967)
Hot Buttered Soul (Enterprise Records 1969)
The Isaac Hayes Movement (Enterprise Records 1970)
To Be Continued (Enterprise Records 1970)
Shaft (Enterprise Records 1971)
Black Moses (Enterprise Records 1971)
Live At The Sahara Tahoe (Enterprise Records 1973)
Joy (Enterprise Records 1973)
Tough Guys film soundtrack (Enterprise Records 1974)
Truck Turner film soundtrack (Enterprise Records 1974)
Chocolate Chip (HBS Records 1975)
Use Me (Enterprise Records 1975)
Disco Connection (HBS Records 1976)
Groove-A-Thon (HBS Records 1976)
Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) (HBS Records 1976)
with Dionne Warwick: A Man And A Woman (HBS Records 1977)
New Horizon (Polydor Records 1977)
Memphis Movement (Stax Records 1977)
Hot Bed (Stax Records 1978)
For The Sake Of Love (Polydor Records 1978)
Don't Let Go (Polydor Records 1979)
with Millie Jackson: Royal Rappin's (Polydor Records 1979)
And Once Again (Polydor Records 1980)
Light My Fire (Polydor Records 1980)
A Lifetime Thing (Polydor Records 1981)
U-Turn (Columbia Records 1984)
Love Attack (Columbia Records 1988)
Branded (Pointblank Records 1995)
Raw And Refined (Pointblank Records 1995)
