Photos: Charles Nicholas/EPA
I’m a complete sucker for record labels (read: independent labels). They intrigue me: how it's run, how they stay afloat and especially how they create their own distinctive sound. Now how has the death of Isaac Hayes have anything to do with record labels I hear you ask? Simple really, one of those legendary labels under the genre of Soul is Stax Records based in Memphis Tennessee where Hayes played a huge role in the development of the label, especially in creating the legendary Stax sound.
Isaac Hayes passed away on August 10th 2008 in his Memphis home after more than 40 years in ‘The Biz’. Having been a talented child musician, Hayes joined Stax Records as a session musician and staff songwriter backing up and writing for luminaries such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and of course Booker T & the M.G’s to name but three. This lead to bigger and better things, namely a solo career which made Hayes the soul icon the he was best known for. His first 5 full record releases under Stax helped redefine his and Stax’s Memphis 1970s soul sound: the soulful Barry White-esque, long jazzy breakdowns of the 4-track Hot Buttered Soul (’69), The Isaac Hayes Movement (’70) …To be Continued (’70), the wah-wah backed funk of Shaft (’71) as well as the ever super hard to find Black Moses (’71). If James Brown single handedly created funk and hard funk in particular with his choppy guitars, rock steady beats and incessant screaming & shouting, Isaac Hayes was the Godfather of polished funk as his tracks were long winded sexy affairs with a slower fuzzed out sound accompanied by his slow crooning vocals.
Photos: Ronald Grant Archive
The decline and bankruptcy of Stax in the mid-70s spelled the end of Hayes’ first period of stardom. This was followed by the creation of his own record label ‘Hot Buttered Soul Records’ (under ABC Records), Scientology, film appearances (Escape from New York, Miami Vice, Flipper, Dr. DooLittle 2, etc.) and his most recent persona as Chef in the cartoon series ‘South Park’. In a strange twist of fate Isaac Hayes also appeared in a 2008 film, Soul Men, alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac who passed away a day before Hayes. So here’s goodbye to Isaac, a legendary songwriter, performer, actor and voice of a cartoon character. Isaac Hayes certainly had plenty of SOUL!
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