Isaac Hayes

:This article is about the musician, for the Arctic explorer see Isaac Israel Hayes.

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Isaac Hayes (born August 20, 1942 in Covington, Tennessee) is an influential American soul singer, songwriter, musician and arranger.

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Hayes began his recording career in 1962, soon playing saxophone for The Mar-Keys. After a period of activity with Stax Records, Hayes released Presenting Isaac Hayes. A moderate success, the album was recorded immediately following a wild party.

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The top-selling Hot Buttered Soul (1969) was a breakthrough album, and established his image (gold jewelry, sunglasses, etc) which eventually became a template for much of the fashion of gangsta rap and similar trends in the 1980s and 90s. Hayes' biggest hit was 1971's soundtrack to Shaft. The title song won an Oscar (the first for an African American composer), and clearly presaged disco. Black Moses (1971) became almost as successful.

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By 1975, Hayes left Stax Records and formed his own label called Hot Buttered Soul Records. A series of unsuccessful albums led to Hayes' bankruptcy in 1976. The late 1970s saw a major comeback for Hayes, following the release of A Man and a Woman (1977, with Dionne Warwick). In spite of moderate success as a singer, Hayes' records did not sell very well.

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Despite Hayes' bankruptcy, he is also an actor on TV shows and feature films. When Shaft was being filmed, Hayes wanted the lead role, which went to Richard Roundtree; director Gordon Parks was impressed with Hot Buttered Soul where Hayes ended up scoring the film's music. In the 1970s and 1980s he had appeared in some TV shows, including The Rockford Files and The A-Team. He appeared as the title role in Truck Turner (1974) (the only film he ever had a leading role), The Duke of New York in Escape from New York (1981), and as "Hammer" in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988).

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By the late 1990s, he was best known as the voice of Chef on South Park. A song from the series performed by Chef, "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)", received some international radio airplay in 1999 and subsequently appeared on the album ' in 2002.

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Hayes was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

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In 2004, Hayes appeared in a recurring minor role as the Jaffa Tolok on the television series Stargate SG-1. The following year, he appeared in the critically acclaimed independent film Hustle & Flow.

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Hayes is also an outspoken Scientologist, frequently identified by Scientology as a success story and great example of the positive effects that Scientology can bring. He has called Scientology the "gateway to eternity" and "the path to happiness and total spiritual freedom."

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August 20: August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 133 days remaining....

1942: This article is about the year. For the 1984 Capcom arcade game, see 1942 (video game)....

Covington, Tennessee: Covington is a city located in Tipton County, Tennessee. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 8,463. It is the county seat of Tipton County....

Isaac Hayes related Images and Photos (experimental)

Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It	Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It	Isaac Hayes - Chocolate Chip	Isaac Hayes - Live at the Sahara Tahoe
Isaac Shelby	Isaac Mullins	Taylor Hayes	Isaac Blessing Jacob
Patricia Hayes	Patricia Hayes	Sir Isaac Newton	Isaac Blessing Jacob 1692