THE music world bid farewell to a legend this week with the passing of Isaac Hayes - a man who helped revolutionise and influence many styles of music in an incredible career that spanned five decades.
Hayes went from the humblest of beginnings - he was raised in a tin shed in Tennessee - to become an innovative Academy Award and Grammy-winning artist.
The man they called Black Moses was an integral part of Southern soul label Stax Records in the mid-1960s as a writer and producer before beginning a solo career which led to his best-known work - the theme and soundtrack from seminal blaxploitation film Shaft.
Hayes continually released albums until the start of the '80s, at which point he turned his attention to acting, starring in movies such as Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Escape From New York, and Reindeer Games. The cause of his death at age 65 on Sunday has yet to be identified, but a stroke he suffered in 2006 was believed to have been a factor. Here are five of Hayes' most influential and outstanding works over a stunning career.
SAM & DAVE
DURING the early '60s, Hayes joined Stax Records as a session player. The label, which came to prominence partly due to the success of Otis Redding, was renowned for it's Southern soul records and Memphis sound. Hayes eventually teamed with David Porter and the song-writing duo would pen more than 200 songs for Stax artists, helping form the heart of the label's sound in the mid-'60s. Their biggest hits were written for Sam & Dave and included black pride funk staple Soul Man, the passionate ballad When Something Is Wrong With My Baby (which was famously dueted by Barnesy and Farnsey), and the soul classic Hold On, I'm Comin' - three great songs that have stood the test of time.
HOT BUTTERED SOUL (1969)
HIS first solo album Presenting Isaac Hayes flopped, but Stax Records were desperate for material when rivals Atlantic Records gained control of Stax's entire back catalogue in 1968. The label execs ordered all the musos and creative staff on the books to churn out new albums. Hayes produced Hot Buttered Soul - a collection of just four songs ranging up to 18 minutes in length that is acknowledged as an important album in funk, soul and hip-hop. The record has been extensively sampled in the years since, particularly his innovative arrangement of the Bacharach-David tune Walk On By.
SHAFT (1971)
HAYES became the first African-American to win a non-acting Oscar for this landmark soundtrack. Released as a double album, the record went straight to the top of the charts in the US (knocking John Lennon's Imagine from the number one spot) and remains the best-selling album ever on Stax Records - an amazing result for a film score that mostly comprises instrumentals. The soundtrack's headpiece Theme From Shaft also went to number one and is Hayes' best known work - particularly his rumbling description of Shaft as "a private dick who gets all the chicks". The record earned Hayes three Grammys and an Oscar but also became the soundtrack that all subsequent non-classical soundtracks would be rated against.
BLAC K MOSES (1971)
HOT on the heels of his Shaft success - a job he only took in the hopes of getting a part in the film - Hayes went straight back into the Stax studios to create his third solo album. With a title taken from the nickname given to Hayes by Stax executives, the double album featured tunes written by Curtis Mayfield, Kris Kristofferson, and Bacharach and David again, while a version of The Jackson 5's Never Can Say Goodbye gave him another hit. The record was also memorable for it's cover, which folded out to feature a poster-sized of version Hayes dressed in biblical robes preparing to part the sea.
CHEF
THE impact of Hayes' work may have been limited to the legacy of Shaft if not for a timely re-entry into the pop-culture mainstream thanks to the ground-breaking cartoon South Park. As Chef, Hayes reminded everyone of his influence and introduced him to a whole new audience through the many Trey Parker-Matt Stone-penned songs Chef would sing throughout the series. A soundtrack called Chef Aid, which featured Hayes on every track, even gave the mellifluously baritoned singer the final number one hit of his career - the hilarious innuendo-heavy Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You).
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