Isaac Hayes, winner of both Academy and Grammy awards for the theme song
to the movie "Shaft," was found unconscious near a treadmill Sunday and
pronounced dead at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., an hour later. He
was 65.
Hayes, a baritone soul crooner, was a forerunner for disco. His music, which
came to be known as urban-contemporary, paved the way for disco as well as
romantic crooners like Barry White.
"Isaac Hayes embodies everything that's soul music," Collin Stanback, an
A&R executive at Stax, said. "When you think of soul music you think of
Isaac Hayes¡ªthe expression ... the sound and the creativity that goes along with
it."
Hayes was a self-taught musician. He was hired in 1964 by Stax Records of
Memphis as a backup pianist, working as a session musician for Otis Redding and
others. He also played saxophone.
He began writing songs, establishing a songwriting partnership with David
Porter, and in the 1960s they wrote such hits for Sam and Dave as "Hold On, I'm
Coming" and "Soul Man."
Hayes was born in 1942 in a tin shack in Covington, Tenn., about 64 km north
of Memphis. He was raised by his maternal grandparents after his mother died and
his father took off when he was 1 1/2. The family moved to Memphis when he was
six.
