Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes Jr August 20 1942 August 10 2008 was an American songwriter musician singer and occasionally an actor Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records where he served both as an inhouse songwriter and as a record producer teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid1960s Hayes Porter 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 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 This song was also honored by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Rolling Stone magazine and by the RIAA as the Songs of the Century During the late 1960s Hayes also became a recording musician and he recorded several successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul 1969 and Black Moses 1971 In addition to his work in popular music Hayes worked as composer of musical scores for motion pictures Hayes is well known for his musical score for the film Shaft 1971 For his composition of the Theme from Shaft Hayes was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972 Hayes became the third AfricanAmerican after Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel to win an Academy Award in any competitive field whatsoever covered by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Hayes also won two Grammy Awards for that same year Later he was given his third Grammy Award for his music album Black Moses During 1992 in recognition of his humanitarian work there Hayes was crowned as the honorary king of the Ada Ghana region Hayes also acted in motion pictures and television such as in the movie Im Gonna Git You Sucka and as Gandolf Gandy Fitch in the TV series The Rockford Files 1974 80 Then from 1997 to 2005 he lent his distinctive deep voice to the character Chef on the animated TV series South Park On August 5 2003 Isaac Hayes was honored as a BMI Icon at the 203 BMI Urban Awards for his enduring influence on generations of music makersThroughout his songwriting career Hayes received five BMI RB Awards two BMI Pop Awards two BMI Urban Awards and six MillionAir citations As of 2008 his songs generated more than 12 million performances Description above from the Wikipedia Isaac Hayes licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia