Holy Moses
The word from Aunty is that Isaac Hayes has died …
Police were called after his wife found him unconscious next to a moving treadmill. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
“Family members believe at this point it is a medical condition that might have led to his death,” a police spokesman said, adding Hayes was being treated for “a number of medical issues”.
Hayes suffered a stroke in 2006.
Isaac Hayes was no overnight success. An orphan from a poor background in rural Tennessee where he was raised by his maternal grandparents, he taught himself to play the piano, organ and saxophone.
His big break came in nearby Memphis when he signed for the Stax label as a session musician in 1964. Hayes took over keyboards from Booker T Jones, and his first paid sessions were with Otis Redding.
In partnership with songwriter David Porter, he was responsible for such classics as Sam and Dave’s Soul Man and Hold On I’m Coming.
His own work climaxed with his 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul, described by one critic as the most important black recording since James Brown’s Live at the Apollo.
It contained only four songs
Isaac Hayes became increasingly involved with humanitarian causes.
The 1990s saw him travel to the West African state of Ghana to shoot a video with Barry White. It was the first of many visits there during which he helped fund a school to help the spread of literacy.
He was made a Ghanaian king with the title Nene Katey Ocansey. In 2005, he married a Ghanaian woman - his fourth marriage. He has 12 children.
Aside from his charity work, he owned two restaurants and hosted a nightly five-hour radio show in Memphis.
But he’ll be best remembered as a man who influenced the course of black music.
