Isaac Hayes, Musician: 1942 – 2008
By Craig Kennedy - August 10th, 2008; 2:42 pm
Isaac Hayes, the Academy and Grammy award-winning icon of the music industry has died of unspecified causes.
Redefining popular music throughout the 60’s and 70’s both as a songwriter (he co-wrote the hits Soul Man and Hold On I’m Coming) and solo performer, the purveyor of the Memphis soul sound helped lay the groundwork for disco and rap.
Of course, he’s best known to movie audiences for composing the Oscar nominated score and Oscar winning title theme to Gordon Parks’ 1971 Richard Roundtree starring blaxploitation hit Shaft in 1971.
Hayes was 65 years old.
Filed under: News, Obituaries
Tags: Isaac Hayes, Shaft, South Park
damn, first bernie now chef. Rough weekend for talented but under-appreciated people. RIP Isaac.
Boy, who would’ve thought that Soul Men would end up being the eariest movie of the year?
Of all the things the man did in his lifetime, I’m a little embarrassed to admit my favorite might be the song “Suck on My Chocolate Salty Balls” from an episode of South Park.
Of all the things the man did in his lifetime, I’m a little embarrassed to admit my favorite might be the song “Suck on My Chocolate Salty Balls” from an episode of South Park.
Me too, Craig, me too. I was thinking of quoting the lyrics, but it made me feel dirty, haha.
Yes, that song that he sang as Chef was impressive. As was “Shaft”.
RIP.
So many accomplishments and yet, yes, it does come down to Chocolate Salty Balls. Word!
“stick ‘em in your mouth and suck ‘em…”
LOL! Great tribute :-)
Damn. RIP.
This coupled with apparent news from “sources” that Paul Newman is on his deathbed has me feeling just a bit melancholic.
Has the Newman thing hit real news yet or is it still just floating around in gossip circles?
I’m not saying it’s untrue, I’m just curious.
It seems like it’s currently one of those open secrets, like Sydney Pollack was last year.
Hayes made some great music long before he became famous for his chocolate, salty balls. My favorites are from his time as a musician/producer/songwriter for Stax with Booker T & the MGs. Truly epic music.
Though I was only an occasional viewer of South Park, I became even less enamored with it when they killed off Chef. He was the heart, soul and cojones of that show.
He will be missed. RIP, Isaac.
His pre-Shaft contributions to music are definitely more significant than anything he did since….but being a movie blog I had to emphasize the movies.
Didn’t he quit South Park because of their anti-Scientology Tom Cruise episode? That really sucks that they killed him off…though perfectly in keeping with the attitude of the show.
Alynch. I don’t know why it feels weird to talk about still. I’m oversensitive about the gossip rags that circle these things like vultures measuring coffins.
Nevertheless, it’s sad news.
Yes, I detest that aspect of it all as well, Craig. I’ve read that many tribute pieces by various sources have been written/orchestrated/put together by various agencies and people for Paul Newman. It feels icky to say the least, not to mention how saddening it is besides.
Yes, Isaac Hayes asked to leave South Park over the Scientology episode (pure brilliance on their part, BTW) and they killed off Chef as no one else could possibly pull off that character.
Thinking about it as I was sitting in the theaters this afternoon, I also recalled the joy of seeing Hayes on Rockford Files back in the day (him taunting Jim Rockford by referring to him as “Rockfish” remains one of my enduring memories of that awesome TV series). I also remembered him in Escape from New York, in the fairly throwaway role of The King, which he (of course) owned. Awesome stuff.
And there will always be his Chocolate Salty Balls, which isn’t the least of his musical efforts but easily one of the most funny. Of course, there’s always Shaft.
“Who’s the black private dick
That’s a sex machine to all the chicks?
SHAFT!
Ya damn right!
Who is the man that would risk his neck
For his brother man?
SHAFT!
Can you dig it?
Who’s the cat that won’t cop out
When there’s danger all about?
SHAFT!
Right On!
They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother
SHUT YOUR MOUTH!
I’m talkin’ ’bout Shaft.
THEN WE CAN DIG IT!
He’s a complicated man
But no one understands him but his woman
JOHN SHAFT! “
Rockfish!!!!
His music was great and his role in the Rockford Files was a highlight of that great TV series. RIP big fella.
Thanks for stopping by Derek. I can’t believe I neglected to mention Rockford in the first place, but yeah, it’s his music that really stands out.