UPDATE-UPDATE: Isaac Hayes’ Funeral is to be held at 11a.m. Monday, August 18th at Hope Presbyterian Church, on Walnut Grove in Memphis.
USA Today is reporting that Shelby County (Memphis) Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Shular said Tuesday that paperwork filed by Hayes’ family physician, Dr. David Kraus, lists the cause of death as a stroke. Those who wish to send their condolences can mail them to 926 E. McLemore Ave. Memphis, TN. 38106-3338. This is the former location of Stax Records, now the Stax Museum of American Soul Music and the Soulsville Foundation, and they have promised to get them to the Hayes family.
UPDATE: Hayes was about to begin work on a new album for Stax, the soul record label he helped build to legendary status. And he had recently finished work on a movie called “Soul Men†in which he played himself, starring Samuel Jackson and Bernie Mac, who died on Saturday.
Wow. First Bernie Mac, and now “Shaft” and “Chef” from South Park icon Isaac Hayes has died at the age of 65. Fox News is reporting that at approximately 1pm Central Time, Shelby County (Memphis, Tennessee) Sheriff’s department received a call from Isaac Hayes’ wife, who found him lying unresponsive next to a treadmill at 9280 Riveredge in Shelby County.
Shelby County Sheriff’s Department arrived on the scene and C.P.R. was performed. Hayes was unresponsive, and Shelby County Fire Department and Rural Metro arrived on the scene where they took him straight to Baptist East Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 2:10pm. Central Time.
Family members say he had recently been treated for some medical issues, high blood pressure and possibly other problems. The treadmill was still running when Isaac was found. At this time officials do not believe foul play was involved, and everything at the scene so far indicated that Hayes’ death was natural.
Isaac performing “Shaft” live in 1973 is below.
Hayes made headlines when he left his role as Chef on South Park when the show aired the infamous episode about Tom Cruise “coming out of the closet”- a biting jab at Scientology. Isaac was a Scientologist. The soul-man was a Grammy winner for the classic theme from the movie Shaft.
Hayes was one of the main creative forces behind southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served as both an in-house songwriter and producer with partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s, Hayes became a recording artist, and recorded successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971) as the Stax label’s premier artist.
Alongside his work in popular music, Hayes was a film score composer for motion pictures. His best known work, for Shaft in 1971, earned Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards. He received a third Grammy for the album Black Moses.
In 1992, in recognition of his humanitarian work, he was crowned an honorary KING of Ghana’s Ada district! Rest In Peace, Isaac. You will be greatly missed. Say hello to Bernie Mac for us.
Here’s Isaac performing “Shaft” Live in 1973. Snarkista thinks that’s a young Jesse Jackson in the beginning! Enjoy.